Beast Boy's Tough Times
by Mathiastodd
Summary: Beast Boy has been having bad dreams recently, things happen, story. That's really all I can say without spoilers. Takes place after show. I try to write it as much in the style of the show as possible. Forgive me, first chapter is a bit long. BBxRae, R&R.
1. The Begin-in-ing

**I do not own the characters and barely own the jokes. When you read, "_Right?", _at the end of a sentence in here, pretend its' font is decreasing in size. Reverse that for "f_ire, fire FIRE!_"**

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><p>Beast Boy woke up. Once again, he was drenched with sweat. Out of his window, he could see that it was still dark. His digital clock displayed the time as five am. He fell back onto his bed with his arms spread open and thinks upon his nightmares. He's had them ever since that theme park reopened. The one he went to with Terra on their date. What was probably the worst date he'd ever have. It's hard to beat finding out your date has betrayed you to join your team's archenemy.<p>

Since he found out about the reopening he's had dreams of Terra being in danger or pain. Calling his name but he would never be able to help her, and then he'd be awake. Sometimes he would have moved. Across the room or even away from the tower. Once, he was found sneaking back in by Robin. BB tried to explain it away as an early morning jog. Robin didn't buy that he would do such a thing in boxers. _I need to get ahold of these dreams or I'm gonna be falling asleep during a battle. Or worse, during one of Robin's "team meetings". _He'd gotten chewed out enough last time it happened to not want a repeat.

Leaving his room three hours later, he ran into Raven in the hallway. "Beast Boy?" Raven asked. "What's the matter?". "Matter? No matter. Everything is fine. Couldn't be better." BB spouted with a panicked smile. _Friggin empath._ Unfazed by his cover Raven responded, "Whatever, I'm going to the library to return some books. I don't suppose you'd want anything." "I'd go with that suppose. Supposition? Suppa-ah forget it, see ya later.".

Upon walking into the main room of Titans Tower his hair was blown back by a booming, "Boyah!", shouted by Cyborg as he gloated over his victory against Robin in a racing video game. "I am the greatest! Tales of my victory will travel the world and all will acknowledge me as superior! And you as a widdle biddie woser." "Fine!" Robin shouts back, "You want to goad me. Consider it done. Two out of three. Winner makes dinner." "Man, ain't nobody want to eat your nasty cooking." Cyborg responded. "You're worse than Starfire." "What, friend Cyborg?", Said the orange Tameranian from the kitchen. "I thought you liked my cooking." She said with big round eyes full of hope and optimism. "Oh, I do Star. I love your cooking." Covered Cyborg. "Tee-hee, great! I made some waffles, and I expect you to eat every bite."

"We can play after you've had some breakfast." Robin said with a smile and a pat on Cyborgs' shoulder. "This stinks of collusion." Cyborg said suspiciously. "Hey, BB! Want to split some waffles?" "No thanks." Beast Boy responded, "I'm a vegetarian.", "Waffles don't have meat in em!"Cyborg defended. "They don't?" Starfire said, sounding surprised as she served a stack of gooey, pink, waffle shaped things. "eegh." uttered Cyborg as a shiver overtook him.

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><p>Whack! "Ow!" exclaimed Beast Boy as he was once again smacked in the head by Robin's staff.<p>

"Geez, man. That friggin hurts." BB yelped.

"You know the rules. If you want a weapon, then go get one." Robin replied.

"Nah. Would'nt know how to use them anyways." BB said, while turning into a rabbit to dodge Robin's swipes.

Beast Boy reminded himself to Keep the jokes up. _Robin's too well trained. I need to get him off his game_. Dodging Robin's blows he spouted, "Missed me by a hare!", "Whack the Mole!", "If I was a car, would I be a Dodge or a ram!" He taunted as he charged Robin's midsection in the form of a mountain ram. As Robin braced for impact by blocking with his staff, BB feigned and turned into a cobra and coiled around the staff to strike. What he had not counted on was Robin spinning the staff with, a now very dizzy, BB still attached.

Beast Boy reverted to human and fell off the staff, Beast Boy sees little green birds flying around his head. "The match goes to Robin!" Declared a cheerful Starfire. Beast Boy stumbled to his feet, staggering around. "I can still fight. Im not do- oh crap" He said as he fell into the water. "Are you okay?" asked Robin. "Yeah. I'm fine. I think I'll just float here until things stop spinning." "Well, alright then. We're going to go check on Cyborg. Maybe he's recovered by now."

As they left, Beast Boy floated thinking about how close Starfire and Robin were recently. They always got along but now, it's rare to see them apart. As he thought about it more he began pondering relationships in general. _Cyborg's been going out with that blonde lady and I've even seen Raven go out with that goth guy._ "Oh my God!" Beast Boy exasperated audibly. _Raven's gone on more dates than I have! Well, I probably shouldn't be looking for anyone with these dreams anyways, I guess. I'm either going crazy or clearly not over what happened._ His, mind flashed back to the image of Terra's sacrifice.

Not feeling much better, despite no longer being dizzy, Beast Boy got up and proceeded to slog his way to the tower's entrance. "Seriously, what's wrong with you?" Spoke Raven, from suddenly next to BB. "Ah, crimany Donelson!" yelped BB from surprise. "Why do you always do that?!"

"Because you fail to notice me, I'm at fault?" Defended Raven, now back from the library with new books.

"You appear out of nowhere like an evil genie. Anyways, why are you always reading books?" Asked BB, successfully changing the topic from himself.

"My powers work best with Knowledge and wisdom as Cyborg's do with technology, and Robin's does with training. You would probably benefit from some reading as well. I suggest Animal Farm." Raven said, with the slightest of smirks at the end.

"How would I benefit from a farm animal book written by someone who can't even turn into a farm animal? Besides, I have better things to do." BB retorted. "Such as floating?" Raven stung. Beast Boy thought quickly for an explanation. "I could have been meditating. Becoming one with the water so I could operate better in it." _Good one._ He thought to himself. "Were you?" Raven asked, having clearly seen through his bluff. "Nope!" Beast Boy exclaimed while moonwalking through the door. He figured, _If you can't play mystical, play it cool_. This illusion was broken when he tripped and fell into the elevator. Raven let out an exasperated sigh and followed him inside.

After a delicious barbeque dinner, prepared by Cyborg, Beast Boy headed back to his room to rest. He twisted and turned as his dreams, once again, turned to nightmares. He reached out his hand to grab Terra's as she fell. The very ground she depended on, failing to hold her. She called out his name, and pleaded for help as she fell. Even after she is gone, her words echo and haunt him. He sees himself curled up in a room that's becoming increasingly darker. Terra's words rebounding in the room. "Beast Boy! Help me! Save Me! Where are you?!" Again Beast Boy jerks awake. This time it's not the nightmare that awakens him but the tower's alarm, indicating trouble in the city.

Meeting in the common room, Robin addressed the team. "One of Slade's robots has been spotted at the fair. It's been evacuated and we need to check it out." A chill came over Beast Boy's spine. _The fair's reopening, the dreams, and now Slade? Something's very wrong with this._ He thought to himself.

The Titans arrived at the still powered on fair. "Place is pretty creepy without any noise in it." Cyborg stated. Beast Boy ignored the comment he would usually have joked about with his buddy. He was already on edge as it was.

Robin: "All right Titans, we need to search this place top to bottom. Cyborg, take the food stands and carnival games, Raven and Starfire look from the sky, I'll check the ferris wheel and bumper cars, Beast Boy, you've got the House of Mirrors and the Haunted House."

Beast Boy's eyes widened and his heart skipped a beat. He had never told the team about the House of Mirrors. That it was where Slade and Terra revealed their betrayal. Raven spoke up. "You don't need both Starfire and myself in the air. I'll check out the Haunted House." _Did she sense something was up?_ Beast Boy thought. _If she did, she got the place wrong_. Still, it made Beast Boy feel better, knowing someone was at least a little bit aware of how bad the situation may get.

He changed to a bloodhound and walked into the House of Mirrors. _Just focus on the smells._ He told himself. But amongst the smell of the fair's usual visitors and their snacks he smelled something familiar. _Terra! This smell couldn't have been from back then. It would have been gone by now. Is she here? _His head turned back and forth, looking for any sign of Terra.

"I'm afraid she's not here. I acquired some of her old things for the right amount of nostalgia." Beast Boy turned back to his natural state and immediately felt a pin prick in his left arm. He saw a fit young man wearing a metal hued cowl, and blue/silver body armor. He could'nt have been older than mid twenties. What really stood out was the sword on his back and the dart gun in his hand. "The name's Ravager. How're you feeling?" He said with a smile. Beast Boy grabbed his communicator but only got static. "Copper wire. Love the stuff. In the age of connectivity, people freak out when they are isolated. Don't worry, they'll realize you're missing in a minute or two." He taunted.

"What do you want? What did you hit me with?" Beast Boy asked as he fell to one knee, wincing. "Same thing I've been putting in your tofu for a couple weeks. You're hiding your true self and I'm going to release you!" He yelled, throwing up his arms. Beast Boy was fighting his own body. Every second the beast inside of him was pushing to get out. BB was barely keeping himself together as sweat poured out of his face.

"Beast Boy!" Robin yelled with the rest of the Titans behind him. "What happened?!". "This happened!" Said Ravager, throwing a file to Robin. "Read it. All of you. I think you'll find its contents very interesting." He continued. "Four people on three different nights in the woods killed. One by a wolf, one by a tiger, and the last two by a polar bear. None of which being indigenous to those areas." He said. "What does that prove, and who are you?" Robin asked before opening the file. "Who I am doesn't matter as long as those reports are legitimate." As the Titans examined the file, Ravager continued.

"I'm going to guess the boy hasn't been his usual self recently?" Raven's eyes searched. "Been disappearing and coming back at odd hours?" Robin looked away. "At each of the crime scenes green fur was found. Beast Boy was not seen anywhere by anyone during those dates, and this next one is the kicker. All the victims were blonde girls." Starfire turned away and hid her face from the photos. "So tell me, has Beast Boy had trouble controlling his feral self before? Has he had any traumatic experiences involving a blonde girl?" Ravager taunted. "Stop!" Beast Boy snarled.

"If this all happened then why haven't I seen anything about it until now?" Robin asked, defending Beast Boy and hoping the whole thing was a lie. "He was ashamed and scared of how you would react. Have you ever confronted him about controlling his feral side?" Robin thought back to the time he had to interrogate Beast Boy. "He deleted the records from the Titan's computer." Ravager explained. "He did it!" Beast Boy shouted with gritted teeth. "He poisoned me! Aghh!" "I did no such thing. You can test him if you'd like. He's trying to cover up his transformation. I don't believe he's consciously killing but only sometimes changing to a form that completely runs on instincts."

"Hah" Beast Boy gasped in exasperation. "You wont win."

Ravager responded. "I will, because i'm on the side of truth. If you want to see it, just look at your friends."

Beast Boy slowly lifted his head. He could see into their eyes and saw what he had feared most since he got his powers. The reason he was always cracking jokes. Why he was always on teams of strange people. What he saw in their eyes broke his heart. Fear. They were afraid of him. Cyborg, his best friend. Even Raven, with all the demon crud she's seen, she's scared of him. Starfire was behind Robin._ I'm your friend. You thought I was funny right? _**_R__i_**_g__h__t?_ That was when he fell, and the monster took over.

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><p>Becoming the beast, he lunged at the Titans, swinging wildly. Cyborg grabbed the beast's hands grappling with him. "We have to stop him!" Robin shouted. "Raven! Try to get in his mind and talk some sense into him while we hold him off! I don't want to hurt him if we don't have to!" "...Okay, I'll try." Raven replied as she began meditating. Her soul self flew out of her body and into the beast.<p>

As she entered his mind she saw time outside slow down. She found herself in a room with rounded edges, like a ball when it's pressed down on. Flat on the top and bottom. She was in one quarter of the room. The floor was white linoleum and the wall was white with a brick-like structure. The ceiling was covered with florescent lights but the rest of the room was dark. It looked damaged and full of shadows. She stood up and noticed a familiar figure stumbling through the dark. "Beast Boy?" She called out to the figure.

Stumbling half into the light was Beast Boy. He hanged down like a puppet from its' strings. "Raven? Where are we?". "We're in your mind." Raven replied. Beast Boy looked around and made an observation. "Why's it so much smaller than yours was?" Raven grabbed his arm. "Because you don't read books. Now, this is important. You're attacking your friends. You need to stop yourself." Beast Boy's eyes became serious. "I'm trying but I can't fight it. It's too strong right now. You don't think I did those things he said I did…" He paused. "Do you?"

Raven looked away for a moment before returning her eyes to his and asking, "If this much evidence was against me would you believe I was one hundred percent innocent?"

"Yes!" Beast Boy shouted. He then stopped, realizing how quickly he answered and if it was the truth. "No, maybe I wouldn't have." He said while looking back, into the shadows.

"Rae? If I can't stop myself. If it looks like I'm going to hurt one of you. I need you to put me down." "You're an idiot." Raven responded. "Not like that, the other way."

"Shut up." Raven told him. "You're my friend, and I'm not losing you." She pulled him around to face her. "If there's nothing you can do, that's fine, but I'm not letting you give up!" Beast Boy smiled. _I knew I still had friends._ "We'll always be your friends." Raven said. With shock on his face Beast Boy exclaimed. "You heard that?!" "We're in your mind." Raven explained. "I have to leave now, but remember what I said. Don't give up."

As Raven's body opened its eyes, she saw Cyborg, missing his right arm fly across the room. Robin shouted at her. "Raven! What happened?" Raven replied. "He can't help us. We have to capture him." "But Beast Boy is our friend!" Pleaded Starfire.

"We all want to help him, but if this is the only way we can, then we have to take him out." Robin rationalized. "GraAAH!" The monster yelled as it threw a metal pole at the gathering of Titans. Cyborg grabs the pole and stops it with his left hand. "Fine." He said. "Let's just finish this. I don't want to fight my friend any longer than I have to."

Throwing the pole to the side, Cyborg charged the beast with his arm pulled back. Raven wraped the beast in her magic bindings giving Cyborg a clear shot. As the punch hits a loud crack is heard as the beast's face is pulverized. Raven released the monster allowing it to fall to its' hands, but it was not out. The beast charged on all fours clamping his teeth on Cyborg's right leg and took him with it, through a wall.

Pinning Cyborg against a wall of the fairgrounds, the beast pointed his hand as if he were about to stab through Cyborg's midsection with it. Robin runs at the beast but was too slow. Raven reached out with her magic but It was not fast enough either. _Please, don't do it Beast Boy._ Raven thought. A bright green light split though the night to blast the beast back and through a food stand. As Cyborg dropped onto his, literal, "last leg", Starfire fell to the ground crying at having to attack her friend. "What do we do now?" Raven asked. "We have no choice." Robin explained. "Ravager said he gave the file to the police as well. We have to take him in until I can prove his innocence."

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><p>Waking up, Beast Boy felt every kind of sore and drained in the book. He tried to get up and that was when he realized he had a broken rib that was bandaged. He was in a white square room with a camera at the end. Aside from a small door to a bathroom there didn't appear to be any entrance or exit. A loud voice came into the room. "Oy, inmate. I see you're awake so here's the lowdown. Bathroom is wired for sound, main room has camera. You turn into stuff and room goes electric." Beast Boy looked at the camera and asked, "Are my friends okay?". "Oh, yeah. They're fine. Little banged up judging by the way they looked. Guess you didn't go down without a fight." Beast Boy looked back at his feet, feeling ashamed of everything that happened.<p>

After several hours of pacing the room Beast Boy approached the camera. "Is there anything to do here?", "…You're 'doing time'. We don't have video games. …We have books." "Anything else?" Beast Boy groaned. "Sorry lad." The voice responded. "It's books or nothing." Silence was in the air for half a minute until the voice addressed it. "I said, it's books or…" "I'm thinking! I'm thinking!" Beast Boy interrupted. "Fine. I'll take a book." "Okay." Boomed the voice. "Any preferences?" "Man, I wouldn't even know…wait" Beast Boy said, remembering something a friend told him once. "Animal Farm. I'll read Animal Farm."

It had been two days since Beast Boy had woken up. The only way he knew this was the British guy told him. He had finished reading Animal Farm. Didn't read the whole book, but enough to be disturbed by it. He was equally disappointed that Little Women wasn't about size changing women, like his stepmom. He was now reading The Shining, and found himself enjoying it much more, when a black portal appeared in his room's center. Beast Boy tossed aside the book and leapt at Raven as she walked out of her portal. He knew he would've usually been surprised by her appearance, but he was too happy to finally see another face. Even if this one did have a tendency to get furious over his behavior. "Raven! I can't believe you came! How is everyone?!"

Pushing back a still beaming BB, Raven smoothed out her cloak before responding. "Robin is keeping himself busy, trying to prove your innocence. Cyborg is remodeling the tower. I think he's doing it to avoid an awkward talk with you about dismembering him, and Starfire is distraught about taking you out, that was her by the way, and has become more of a 'wet blanket' than me. So, I was bored and dropped by." Raven could see with each member's update, the smile across BB's face fell. "I'm sorry that happened. Was there anything in my bloodstream or on that Ravager guy?" "He…disappeared." She rambled as she approached his bed and picked up a strip of paper. "As did whatever might have been in your system... is this a bookmark? Have you been reading?" She said with a look of disbelief and doubt. "Yeah. I have." BB said indignantly. "It's not like there's a hidden plasma tv in here." "Sure." Raven said. An awkward silence covered the room. Beast Boy broke the silence. "I read Animal Farm, by the way. You sicko."

"Bwah! *gasp*", Laughed Raven and then quickly covered her mouth. "You didn't hear anything." She strictly told BB. Still hiding her mouth to cover a smile. It was too late as Beast Boy was beaming again. "I see. So all this time, it was book jokes that made you laugh. I've been using the wrong material all these years!" BB shouted to the ceiling in faux dramatics. "I have this one about Little Women-mmph" He said, as he was cut off by a pillow encased in black hit his face. picking up The Shining, which was under the pillow, Raven looked at the book. "The Shining?" "Yeah it's this cool scary story by-", "Stephen King. I've read it." Raven cut him off. It was now BB's turn to look surprised. "I wouldn't of figured you would've liked it. You hate it when I make us all watch scary movies." "This is different." Raven explained. "This is well written." The two Titans spent the next two hours discussing the book, until Raven had to leave.

"Well, that was actually kind of fun. Never had that long of a conversation with Raven before." He sighed as he sat down and leaned back on the wall his bed was against. "She's actually pretty cool. I didn't even notice half of those hidden things. Yep. Pretty pretty." Catching his slip, BB reiterated. "I mean pretty cool. Yeah. Not that she's not pretty, she probably is. Y'know what? I can admit she's pretty. It's subjective. It's not like I like her." He rambled. Suddenly, a moment of clear epiphany struck him.

"Oh, shoot! I like her!" He yelled jumping to his feet and grabbing the sides of his head with his hands. "Why?! How?! When did this happen?!" Pacing the room, he attempts to talk himself through his new emotions. "Alright, I can handle this. She's like family, yeah. Like a sister, or a step sister…that you like." Crouching down with his head between his legs, he rocked back and fourth. "Wrong, totally wrong. What should I do?! Ignore it? Ask her out? Geez, I don't know which is worse!"

A British voice chimed in. "Try asking her dad if you can take her out." "That. That would definitely be the worst one. Hey!" He yelled as he turned to look at the camera, he'd forgotten about. "How long have you been listening?!" "Only the last 25 minutes. I was busy watching some other inmates. Mammoth and Kid Wykkyd were playing charades and it was hilarious."

Beast boy inquired, "Why? Kid Wykkyd should be used to charades?" "He was the one guessing." The voice answered. "Heh, that is funny. Anyways, her dad is kind of this demon guy that she hates. So, not exactly a…um… Oh my God! I can't remember the name of a good television father! What has reading done to me?!" He lamented as he fell on his knees over dramatically. For the next month, Raven visited Beast Boy every other day to talk about what they had read and what was going on with the team. Through their talks they became more like real friends and Beast Boy decided that he should ignore his feelings.

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><p>During one particular talk, Beast Boy revealed that he worried about his future. "You know, from when Starfire travelled to the future? It hadn't gone well for me." "But Starfire came back, which changes the future." Raven comforted. Something she had found she was good at. "It changes things, yeah." He said, standing up from his bed to lean on the opposing wall. "But I hadn't grown. I was older but I wasn't any stronger. You can learn more magic, Cyborg can add to his suit, Robin became some hardcore ninja guy, and Starfire has even become more powerful. But when I run out of animals what else can I do to grow?" Raven paused for a second to ponder on Beast Boy's words. "When it comes to you, Beast Boy, I know there is always room for improvement." "Ha Ha!" Beast Boy laughed at Ravens usual scalding joke, not noticing Raven's averted eyes. She knew she took the easy way out but promised she would return to Beast Boys' problem at another time.<p>

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><p>The Titans, minus BB, were facing down the H.I.V.E. Five, now consisting of just Mammoth, See-More, Gizmo, and Kid Wykkyd, and who had just robbed a jewelry store. Gizmo dive bombs Robin and Cyborg with explosives. As Raven covers them with a magic shield, See-More hit her from behind with a blast from his eye. Starfire flew in from the right and hit See-More with a starbolt before getting side swipped by Mammoth into a building. Mammoth was then blasted back with a birdarangsonic cannon combo from Cyborg and Robin. Each team pauses to recover. Gizmo shouted a taunt at the Titans, "We're going to beat you this time!" "Yeah!" Mammoth chimed in, "We've been training! We'll be the champions this time!"

A strange noise came from above the street and both teams looked up to see a massive golden spaceship with a humanoid figure descending from it. This figure was big and purple with a fin going from his forehead to the back of his head. Just below the fin he had a third eye that would have intimidated anyone that looked directly at it. "I am Despero the mighty!" He spoke, while looking at the H.I.V.E. Five. "I have travelled here to face your planet's champion! Where is the strongest among you?" The four H.I.V.E. members shared concerned looks with each other for a second until they all reached the same conclusion. They pointed in the direction of the Titans. As the other Titan's eyes widened upon Despero's turned gaze, Raven merely uttered, "Crap."

Beast Boy was in his bed with wide eyes while reading IT when a non british voice came over the speaker. "Beast Boy! The Titans need you. You have to go. Now!" Beast Boy jumped up at this and turned his head when a door opened to his right. "There was a door! That limey lied to me." He stopped to turn back to the camera. "Who are you? Where's the British guy?" "I'll explain later, just go! Raven's in trouble!"

Beast Boy ran down the hallway thinking what threat could only be beaten by him. He's never been overly critical to beating any of their enemies before. _If only I had something to…duuude._ He screeched to a stop in front of a room marked "Confiscated Equipment" with a giant mischievous grin on his face. _If I'm making my comeback, I'm bringing the house down._

With a cast of his hand, Despero flung Robin into a wall. With his other hand he caught Starfire by the throat as she charged him. "A Tameranian? I've faced enough of you." He tossed her aside. "I'm here for an earthling champion. From the looks of it, only one of you is completely human and I am far less than impressed." He flew up into the air to leave and find more worthy a foe. "Cyborg! We can't let him leave!" Robin shouted, now back on his feet. "No problem!" Yelled Cyborg, as he shot his right hand to latch on to Desperos' leg. He pulled the cable with all of his strength and managed to cause enough trouble to call for Desperos' attention. At that moment, Starfire blasted through the sky and through one side of Raven's cloak. As the cloak flapped back and open on the other side of Raven, Starfire shot out. Now twice as fast and slammed into Despero as Cyborg let go. Despero flew straight into the beach half a mile away, kicking up loads of sand. "Great teamwork! Let's bring this guy down!" Robin called.

On their way to the beach, Raven found herself taking a wrong turn and ended up in an alley by the boardwalk. She tried to leave the alley to rejoin her friends on the beach but found she couldn't move. She looked down and saw that she was standing in a red circle with glowing markings on it. A young man in red robes and an animal's skull over his head stepped forward. His skin, chalky and white. "At last I meet you, Raven. The gateway to our lord Trigon." Raven's eyes grew wide with fear as red robed men approach her with ropes.

"I am not interested in playing with children!" Shouted Despero, as he tossed Cyborg from the water, back onto the beach. Robin turned back to his team on the beach, "Where's Raven?!" A shout came from the top of a hardware store on the boardwalk. "Did somebody say Beast Boy?!" The Titans swung their heads to see Beast Boy, wearing Gizmos' backpack and Punk Rockers' electric guitar behind his back. "I am the embodiment of all earth's creatures! Louder than God's gun and twice as shiny! I will defeat you, for I am the Green Mile!" He yelled, issuing a challenge to the purple alien.

Robin gripped the sides of his head and with wide eyes yelled. "What's Beast Boy doing here?! How'd he get out of jail?! Where'd he get that stuff?!" Cyborg chimed in, "How'd he learn to use metaphors?"

"We'll catch up later. You guys have to find raven. She's in trouble." Beast Boy told the team. "How do you know that?" Robin asked. "A non-British voice told me." The team paused with bewildered looks on their faces, except for Starfire, who was used to rolling with what she didn't understand. "o-kay. Be careful though. This guy's really tough." The titans left to search for Raven, leaving Beast Boy facing Despero alone. Despero rose into the air and Beast Boy flew to meet him with Gizmos' jetpack. Meeting above where the beach and ocean meet, Despero smiled a toothy grin.

"Finally, I get to meet you. You appear weak but looks can be deceiving. I think I'll test your mental fortitude." Said Despero as his third eye glowed and his others' closed. Beast Boy only had time to say, "aw, cra-"

Inside Beast Boy's mind a furious Despero threw beast Boy into a wall. "I thought the others were weak! Your mind is pathetic!" He kicked Beast Boy in the stomach, making BB cough up blood. Despero picked up BB from the back of his neck and held him away from the wall. "Your minor tragedies and hiding your feelings. Champions conquer their fears or never have any before meeting me." Despero slams Beast Boy into the wall, holding him up by his neck. Beast Boy starts laughing. Only a little at first, but then louder and louder.

"Why are you laughing pretender? Have I broken you already?" "HAHA. I was just thinking-Heh-. This place was a lot smaller last time I saw it. Hahaha." "What are you droning on about?" Despero asked, looking confused. "It means I'm not done. I'm still growing." BB swung his left arm up, striking Despero in his face and inexplicably knocking him back. Landing on his feet with blood still dripping down his face from the wound on his head. "I'm not going to be left behind. I'm getting stronger." Running at Despero, Beast Boy landed a strong right to Despero's midsection. With a shocked look on his face Despero asked, "How are you doing this? You're not this strong!". "It doesn't matter how strong I am. I'll adapt. As long as people as tough as you keep attacking me, I'll become what I need to be to beat you. That's how I fight!" He yelled the last sentence as he slammed his left fist into Desperos' face, sending him flying across the room and snapping BB back to reality.

* * *

><p>He opened his eyes to see a furious Despero in front of him with a single dripping of blood coming from his nose. "You will be punished for that." Despero threatened. <em>Now's my chance!<em> Thought Beast Boy. Holograms of Beast Boy surrounded Despero thanks to Gizmo's backpack. Unfortunately the holograms couldn't do any fighting. They could only project light and sound. Which was all Beast Boy needed. He swung Punk Rocket's guitar to his front.

Beast Boy had never been very good at music, but in this moment he could swear he performed the best cover of Through the Fire and Flames by Dragonforce that had ever been played. Despero covered the sides of his head with cupped hands as he was bombarded like food in a microwave. He summoned his strength and telekinetically blasted the holograms and beast boy away. Falling into the water Beast Boy thought to himself, _This is why I need multiple plans!_

Diving after the green teen Despero plummeted into the water. _Before I only wanted his hide. Now, I'll raze his world._ He let out a gasp of air bubble as he felt a sting in his left arm. He reached for a green snake but BB turned into a squid and released a cloud of ink to cover his escape. Rising to the surface, Despero thought to himself, _Maybe once I destroy his city he'll face me like a warrior._

Having dived deep enough Beast Boy thanked the Science Fiction channel and thought of 59 feet of cartilage and teeth that once ruled the oceans. He leapt from the sea and aimed his seven foot jaws and rows of seven inch teeth to latch onto Despero's right arm and tear it from his body. The mighty Despero yelled at the pain of losing an appendage as the Megalodon flew by him.

Turning into a hawk, Beast Boy faced Despero, allowing the arm to fall into the ocean. Beast Boy began his usual joking, "Looks like you've been disa-" "Shut UP!" Yelled Despero. "Shut your damn mouth you whelp! Of all my battles you are the most annoying idiotic simpleton ever to dare call himself a Champion and yet you have cost me more than any of the others! I will break you, decimate your people, destroy their homes and loved ones, and then return to your crumpled form and slay you!"

"…armed. Disarmed." Beast Boy finished, now with a less confident look on his face. "AAGRH!" Despero yelled as another arm grew from his stump. "Welp…time to run." Beast Boy said as he flew into the clouds.

"Come out boy!" Despero taunted into the clouds. "I've seen your mind! I'll get to those you care about quicker, the longer you make me wait." Beast boy hid in the clouds. _How am I supposed to beat this guy? I even poisoned him and he's only barely slowing down. The only supervillain I've ever been able to take down was Dr. Light. This guy's more like Superman. _BB thought out loud to himself. _"_Superman…what affects that guy? Space rocks. I don't have any. What else? Magic! I don't have magic! There aren't any magic animals! Unless.." He thought back to one magic animal that had hurt Raven. It came out of a book of hers but it was once an animal so he should be able to become it.

He braced him self for a new form. _Forgive me Raven._ His wings grew long and scaley as did his talons. His neck extended and his beak lengthened and grew fangs. The creature's instincts invaded his mind, as powerful as the beasts. _Rubies, gold, diamonds, gems. Bright, need bright, need to destroy and take the brightness._

_Focus, Beast Boy. Your friends need you to focus. I need magic._ He struggled to activate the once worshiped reptile's fight instinct against its' greed.

_Gold, rubies, sapphires, safires, fires, fire, __fire__, **fire**!_

Despero saw a bright orange glow from behind the clouds. _What now?_ Is all Despero had time to think before his body was engulfed in fire and pain. "Aggh!" He yelled as a green/black beast fell upon him with its claws gripping his arms. Falling to the beach the dragon let loose another fireball, this one at point blank range. The sand around him turned to glass and shattered under the fire. Beast Boy only had enough control to, instead of ripping off Despero's arms, dislocating them.

As soon as he could, he transformed back into a human. He stumbled and fell down onto the beach. "And to think, I was bored in prison."

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><p><strong>I referenced Stephen King, Animal Farm and The Jack Benny Show. "It's your money, or your life." ..."I said, Its your money or-" "I'm thinking! I'm thinking!" Songs that inspire this is Think Twice by Eve 6, and The Ballad of Mona Lisa by Panic! At the Disco. Through the Fire and Flames by Dragonforce helped too. "Crimany Donelson" and the British voice was inspired by Gavin Free of Roosterteeth.<strong>


	2. The Second Coming

**I do not own Teen Titans.**

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><p>Beast Boy immediately opened his eyes a second after closing them on the beach. "I'm lying on glass aren't I?" He proceeded to jump up yelling, "Agh! Ow! Bad pain! Why did Die Hard make this seem so cool?!"<p>

As Beast Boy left to find his team members a shadow with a sword on his back stepped out from his hideaway under the nearby pier. Sitting down, next to the groaning Despero, he spoke out loud to him. "You held up your end of our bargain, and so did I. Technically I don't owe you anything, but I'll tell you what. If you keep my plans quiet, I'll break you out when I'm done here." Ravager paused for a second before saying. "I'm sitting on glass, aren't I?"

Beast boy found the titans outside the Zandia embassy.

Cyborg: Green Bean? Why was the sky on fire?

BB: Hairspray from the 80's. Dangerous stuff.

Robin: We tracked Raven to here but there was no sign of struggle so we need the Mayors' Office to let us in.

BB: But she's in danger!

Robin: Which you only think because of a british voice.

BB: Non- british! This guy was non-british!

Robin: Which I'm sure is somehow relevant information, but we can't go in there without breaking the law.

Beast Boy though for a moment before saying. "Seeing as I broke out of jail earlier today, I think I may as well go all in." Before Robin could protest, Beast Boy transformed into a rhinoceros and bashed open the metal gate to the embassy. Sighing into the air with his palm against his forehead, Robin begrudgingly said, "Follow him."

Beneath the Embassy, Raven woke up. She was tied to a stake in a large crypt like room. The floor was made of dirt and the room was illuminated by thousands of red candles. Before her was the incredibly pale man with red eyes. His helm was the skull of some giant canine animal. From his shoulders ran a big, blood red cape. In front of him was a podium with a black old book on it.

"Good evening my beloved." He spoke. "I am not your beloved. Where am I?" Raven replied. "It does not matter where you are. Only where you will take us. My name is Brother Blood, no relation, and we will help you realize your destiny," He turned to his followers in red robes pulled over their heads. There were at least sixty of them, all kneeling. "and we will be rewarded when our master is finally brought to us! When Trigon Returns!"

As the people in robes cheered, Raven became gripped by a fear that would normally tear apart a room, but nothing happened. It was then that she realized that she was in the middle of a circle similar to the one in the alley where they caught her. The markings were smeared blood red. Her stomach turned as she hoped it was paint.

She felt a wave of relief when she saw her friends running down the stairs in the corner, including one she hadn't expected to see. "Beast Boy?" She said out loud to herself. Brother Blood answered her rhetorical question. "You like that? The vermin is critical to my plan." Facing his followers in robes he orders, "Attack! Cleanse this world of those who would stop the return of Trigon!" Reading out loud from the old book on his podium.

"Zarion Metrion Kondar". Beast Boy suddenly appeared next to Brother Blood, looking confused. The rest of the team was by the stairs, fighting through an army of zealots. Grabbing Beast Boy's forehead with his left hand, Brother Blood read, "Maleficar Diambun!". Beast Boy felt his body changing. He was being forced to transform. His muscles grew big and his arms long. His hands grew and his nails became sharp dagger-like claws. His hair disappeared and his mouth drooped and his teeth grew sharp like his beast form. His ears grew longer and pointier. The difference he really noticed was the instincts. Strong like the Beasts' or the Dragons' but completely different.

_Where is my master? I must serve my master. _

_No! I'm Beast Boy! I don't have a master! _

_I sense magic! One is from demon blood! Is she my master? _

_Stop! You aren't a person, you're instincts. My instincts, and I control you. I am my master!_

Having triumphed over another obstacle, Beast Boy snapped back to reality in time to feel a bolt of pain run through him. It connected him to Raven and as they screamed in unison a red portal opened in front of Brother Blood. Raven had lost consciousness but Beast Boy was still standing. He believed it was the half human of Raven that made her faint. Or maybe that was a kind of racism thing from the demon. _I need to stop becoming things that are sentient. Except for sea mammals. They're cool._

As Beast Boy recovered, Brother Blood gazed into the black portal. Into the face of his god, Trigon. "Who are you that would seek an audience with Trigon?" The red giant questioned. Brother Blood kneeled. "I am your humble servant. I wish for nothing more than to serve you and bring about your return through your daughter, Raven. I ask that I may do this…as her husband."

"A human? You think yourself worthy of serving me? Of wedding my seed?" "Of course not, my Lord." Blood looked up at Trigons' face with mischievous smile across his lips. "But you can make me worthy." After a moment Trigon smiled with a bloodcurdling show of teeth. "This pleases me."

Brother Blood flew across the room, struck by a bright red energy. He landed on his feet, hands glowing crimson. He closed his hands into fists and proclaimed, "Now this, is magic!"

Having just defeated the last of the zealots, Starfire, Robin, and Cyborg make it to Beast Boy and helped steady him. "Beast Boy, are you okay?" Robin asked. "I'm fine, I think, but I can't change form." Starfire broke in. "The odd person is attacking." "Oh Come On!" Cyborg yelled in exasperation. "All right. We'll take care of the leader and, Beast Boy, you break the spell. Try that old book. Titans Go!" Robin yelled as his team mates charged towards the cult leader with unknown powers.

"All right. Breaking the spell. I can do this." Beast Boy said to himself as he approached Brother Bloods' podium. "Oh no! I can't read whatever this- oh never mind. This actually makes sense." Beast Boy said as he realized all demons can read their language naturally. "That is damn convenient."

"And who are you?" A loud deep voice bellowed out from before BB. Beast Boy looked up to see the four glowing red eyes of the monster he'd tried hard to forget. "I know all the demons on earth, but not you. What business do you have with me?" In a panic to stall for time, Beast Boy thought of the most intelligent thing he could say. For reasons of cultural stereotypes he ended up with advice given to him in a British accent. "I would like to ask your daughter out on a date." _Dammit British voice!_ Trigon's eyes narrowed on the discolored demon before him. "You are considerably less ambitious than the last being that stood before me. However, you appear to be a full demon and would be preferable to deluding the bloodline. I suppose I will allow you to fight over her." _Well that could've gone worse. It's probably not a good sign that it went well._ Beast Boy attempted to read more of the ancient tome before being interrupted by Trigon. "Your complexion is strange. You have not declared yourself to be a demon, nor have you stated which master you serve. Are you a god?" _Quick, what would Bill Murray say? _"Yes."

"Than prove it by surviving my assault." _Dammit Murray!_ A lightning bolt blasted through the doorway and to BBs' surprise, he was able to deflect it into the ground. Beast Boy quickly ran back to the book and flipped desperately to find the correct spell.

"You did well, green god that appears as a demon. Tell me your name." _Almost there! Just a little more time! Okay, name. Demons have Hebrew names so think of a Hebrew name. Rachel! No, I'm a dude. Someone from the Bible. _"Jesus!" Beast Boy absentmindedly ' eyes narrowed, as his face twisted into anger. _Dammit Bible! Found it!_

In a broken ancient dialect Beast Boy read, "Carnius mortalius" and the portal disappeared. As soon as it did, he was able to change back into his human form, which he was very glad to do. He would have collapsed if he had not noticed Raven waking up, still tied to the stake.

Beast Boy stumbled over to Raven, who was fully conscious now. "Beast Boy? What are you doing here?" "Technically? Breaking international laws."

"Can you untie me?" Raven asked. "Sure." But as Beast Boy reached towards Raven with his right hand, something over took him. Some urge he never thought he'd have. His hand reached for her face. "Beast Boy?" Raven asked. "Boop." was Beast Boys' reply as he poked his index finger into Ravens' nose.

Neither moved for several seconds while Raven processed what just transpired. Her eyes grew wide in anger. "Get. Me. Down." She growled at him through gritted teeth. Still gleeful, Beast Boy complied. As he helped Raven down she straightened her robes and said, "Thank you." The next thing Beast Boy saw was something black, and then the ceiling, and then the floor, and, finally, the ceiling again. Raven's soul claw had given him a good smack back a yard or two. "And that was for poking my nose!" She shouted after him. "Hey!" Beast Boy said jumping to his feet. "I just saved us all from evil santa claus! How about some gratitude?!" "I said, 'thank you'!" Raven yelled back. "Not like I even should have because it was just a communication portal that was only able to work because you blundered in here!" "Well…I did not know that!"

Robin, Starfire, and Cyborg approached the two arguing teens. "Yeah, that skull guy got away. He could open portals like the Herald's horn." Cyborg said. "Oh, perfect! Now the guy that wants to bring back Trigon and marry me has the power to travel anywhere and talk to him whenever he wants!" "Marry you?!" Robin asked. "Not only that. After Trigon gave him permission, some idiot asked him if he could take me on a date!" Raven continued, still fuming and now pointing at Beast Boy. "I had to stall for time and based on the vampire guy, your love life could kill a couple of minutes of dead air!" Beast Boy defended. _Holy crap, brain! Way to come to the rescue._

"It was still incredibly stupid." Raven said, turning from Beast Boy to look at Robin. "How did you get rid of Despero?" Still reeling from the sudden interest in Raven's love life from magic supervillains, Robin responded. "We kind of left him with Beast Boy. How'd you get away?" "I didn't 'get away', I beat him." Beast Boy defended, while triumphantly crossing his arms and closing his eyes. He then opened one to see the rest of his team looking incredulously at him. "You beat him?" Robin asked. "I beat him, yeah!" Beast Boy exclaimed, starting to feel Insulted by his friend's disbelief. "I dislocated both his arms and tore off the other one!" "Man, he didn't have three arms." Cyborg pointed out. "Well he doesn't now! I think he could only do two at a time. But I don't know. I didn't stop to ask as he was trying to make a vest out of me!" "Alright, calm down Beast Boy. The important part here is that we're all fine."

"Yeah, okay." Beast Boy gave in. As the Titans walked back towards the stairs, Cyborg turned his head to Beast Boy and asked, "Did you tell a demon your name was Jesus?" "It made sense at the time!"

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><p><strong>I referenced Ghostbusters, The Bible, and C. Montgomery Burns. <strong>


	3. Three's Company

**I do not own the Teen Titans.**

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><p>Beast Boy was back in his room in jail, staring at the ceiling from his bed. "I can't believe they made me go back to jail. They didn't even let me pass 'go'. Heh heh. I should remember that one." "You've had better." Said a refreshingly British voice from the speaker. Leaping off his bed Beast Boy exclaimed, "British dude! Where have you been man?!" "My house. I don't live here…no offense to those that do."<p>

"Well, who was that other guy that took your place?" BB inquired. "Don't know. Bloke apparently snuck in, let you go, and then buggered off somewhere."

"It was probably one of Blood's men. I got used, like an idiot!" BB said while kicking his bed, upset with himself.

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><p>A week passed and Raven hadn't visited. <em>She can't still be mad at me. Can she? What if she's scared of me because I can become a demon? What if she knows I was lying about the date thing? <em>"Nope. Calm down. She might just be held up somewhere. Like a deadly blizzard…I hate my brain."

The hidden door to his room opened and Robin walked in. "Hello, Beast Boy." "Dude! What are you doing here?" Beast Boy exclaimed, actually happy to see the serious faced teenager. "I'm getting you out. I haven't proven your innocence but what I have proven is that somebody else could have done it." "That's grea- wait what? How is that possible?" Beast Boy tilted his head inquisitively. "Once the investigators found your fur at the second crime scene, they were set on you as the perpetrator. This made them overlook something I found at the most recent crime scene. Purple fur. After analyzing the sample I found that it had the same cellular structure as you." Robin debriefed.

"Wait, you mean there's somebody else like me? And they're a serial killer?!" Beast Boy exclaimed. "It's more likely that their motive was to frame you. It's possible they were working with Ravager to force you into prison for some reason."

Beast Boy fell onto his, still wounded, gluteus with a sigh of relief. "I can't believe it. I was beginning to think I was guilty." "You aren't completely in the clear, so you can't leave town, but you can come back to the tower with us." Robin explained. "Us?" Beast Boy asked, his eyes filled with excitement. "Yeah. We brought the T-car. Everyone's outside waiting." "Even Raven?" Beast Boy asked before realizing that to keep a secret crush a secret you need to be quiet about it. "Yeah…why do you ask?" Robin paused. "I-I had some comebacks to try out. From the Zandia embassy place." Suspicious but satisfied with Beast Boys' answer, Robin turned to exit the room.

"Oh, friend Beast Boy! It is the most joyous of news that you are free!" Yelled Starfire as she swooped out of the sky, grabbing Beast Boy and hugging him in a death grip. "(gack) I see a bright light!" "Starfire, put him down." Ordered Robin with a grin across his face. With a giggle, Starfire obliged. "Yo B! Those video games been missing you." Cyborg said, while patting the shorter teen on the back. "Heh heh. Yeah. I guess I have some catching up to do." Said Beast Boy as he scratched the back of his head. Looking over towards the T-Car Beast Boy saw Raven leaning against the door, glaring at him. Beast Boy gave his best phony smile to hide his worry. "Hey Rae. Wanna give me a hug too?" He teased. "Good. We got him. Can we go now?" She asked Robin. _Well, at least she's not in a blizzard. It would explain the cold shoulder though. Heh. Good one._

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><p>Back at the tower Cyborg stayed in the garage to tune up the T-Car after promising to show Beast Boy his new sonic cannon sniper rifle later. Robin sent Beast Boy back to his room to change and then meet him in the gym to catch up on training. <em>I should have stayed in prison.<em> Thought Beast Boy. He then saw Raven walking in front of him to her own room. Beast Boy ran to catch up to her. "Hey Raven, wait up!" BB kept up pace next to Raven, who was now walking faster than before. "I. Need to talk to you. And you. Are fast at walking." "I have nothing to say to you." She curtly replied. "I've never told you this, but it might be better if I agonized over what you're actually mad about more than what you could be mad about. Just a thought." Raven stopped walking and turned on a heel. "I'm mad because you hid from me that you turned into a dragon and I think I know why!" "…the purple guy was really strong so" "Not why you turned into it, why you hid it, Beast Boy!" Raven yelled with her hands balled into fists by her side.

"Oh. That." Beast Boy looked down and scratched his head. "I didn't want you to think of me like you do Malchior. I've been a dragon now and I was worried you knew enough about them to think it changed me." Raven crossed her arms as a disappointed look covered her face. "Well, you certainly haven't changed. I'm not a child Beast Boy. I know you had to do it and I don't blame you for saving the town. I just don't understand why you wouldn't trust that I'd still be your friend when I was the only one to come see you!" Beast Boy paused with his mouth hanging open for a minute before responding. "You're right. I'm sorry. I should've known you would still put up with me."

Another minute passed as Raven considered Beast Boy's apology. "(sigh) Did you really call yourself 'the Green Mile'?" "I hadn't read it yet, and it sounded cool! I'm gonna have to stop saying things if you guys keep throwing them back in my face!" Beast boy protested, while throwing his arms up in a faux dramatic gesture. Raven smirked a little raising Beast Boys' hopes. "So, you've read it since then?" With ears perked up, Beast Boy responded. "Yeah…would you like to talk about it?" After pausing a moment Raven sighed again, "Sure."

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><p>That night, Beast Boy found that he couldn't sleep. Getting up, he pushed his bunk bed against the wall, like his bed was in his cell. Standing back to admire his work, he says out loud, "I guess the joint changes a man. Next thing you know I'll start thinking this place is too messy." He then looked around his room at the piles of old clothes. <em>Well, now that I mention it…<em> "Crap."

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><p><strong>I referenced Stephen King and probably Boy Meets World.<strong>


	4. Use the Fourth, Luke

**I do not own the Teen Titans.**

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><p>After a night of cleaning and only a few hours of sleep, Beast Boy was awakened by the teams' alarm. He ran to meet the rest of the team in the common room. "It appears that Ravager has decided to show himself again. He's at the abandoned airfield, but I have a bad feeling that this is a trap, like at the fair. That's why Cyborg will be providing cover with his sonic rifle." Robin said as he addressed the group. "You bet man! Any sign of funny business, and bam!" Cyborg boasted.<p>

"Exactly. Also, since this guy has those darts that make Beast Boy lose control we should try to cover him or else end up fighting more than one enemy." Beast Boy's eyes drop to the side. _As long as that Ravager guy is still around, they're always going to have to worry about me losing control. _Beast Boy looks over at Raven. _Is this what Raven feels like with her emotions?_ "All right. Teen Titans, GO!"

At the hill above an airplane hangar, the team stood looking through a window in the hangar, half a football field away. "Ravager's just sitting there on a storage container." Robin observed through his binoculars. "I guess he really is waiting for us. Hmm. Alright, let's go. Cyborg, stick to the plan." "You got it man! Ya'll have fun stormin the hangar!" Cyborg waved at them.

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><p>As they approached the hangar, Beast Boy felt the hair on his neck stand on end and a queasy feeling of trepidation. He then felt a nudge on his side and turned to see Raven, walking next to him. "You aren't alone this time." She said to him, quietly. For once Beast Boy was thankful for her powers as an empath and gave a weak smile.<p>

In accordance with Robin's plan the Titans on the ground blew open the doors and jumped in with the smoke, spreading out to avoid the odds of being caught in the same booby-trap. "All right, Ravager! Give yourself up!" Robin shouted. "Despite that extraordinary argument, I think not." The Ravager said through a wide grin. "I have many fun events planned, but first, a reveal." Turning to look at Beast Boy Ravager spoke in a familiar British accent. "God save the Queen."

Beast Boy gasped. "You're the British voice?!" He yelled while pointing at The Ravager. "You bastard! You have destroyed my faith in the British!" "That wasn't my intention but I'll take it." The Ravager shrugged. It was Raven's turn to be upset. "You watched Beast Boy in prison!?" "And you too. Anyone tell you, that you have a lovely reading voice?" Ravager taunted as Raven clenched her fists in anger.

The Ravager stood up on top of the storage container. He pulled a remote with a button out of his belt. Pulling the communicator out of his own belt, Robin yelled, "Cyborg now!" A narrow but powerful blue bolt of light broke through a window aimed straight at The Ravager. It then disappeared into a black portal. "Aw, c'mon man. Don't ruin the surprise." Ravager gloated. As he pressed the button, a microphone descended from the ceiling to rest by Ravager's mouth. "Bada badada bada! In the front of the arena! The uncontested champions. The home team. The TEEN TITANS!" Ravager shouted in a faux fight announcer voice. "And in the challenger's corner! The despot turned exile that spent her last two years in a prison, freed by a certain three eyed, purple person in exchange for Earth's location. The same purple person your green thumbed compatriot so creatively defeated," "Dude! I freaking told you!" "BLACKFIRE!" With a purple blast, the side of the storage container was blown across the hangar. Starfire's sister flew into the air to the left of The Ravager with dark glowing hands and eyes. Starfire let out an audible gasp at seeing the sister, she herself, banished from Tamaran.

"Sister! What are you doing here?!" Starfire shouted. "I am here for my revenge! You took everything from me! Now, it's your turn to lose it all!" Blackfire swore. "…Ahem." The Ravager interrupted. "And the man you've already met with the leader of the Church of Blood, with Diplomatic Immunity, and a love of half demon chicks. Your favorite BB, BROTHER BLOOD!" This time, the fighter stepped out of the container, his blood red cape flowing behind him. Having seen his portal defend The Ravager, the Titans weren't surprised to see Brother Blood there.

They were surprised by the humanoid made of paper that walked with him. "With whom, breaking order, is a certain someone Blood found drifting in his portals. Someone thirsty from revenge that we released from his bonds. I give you, the magical, the mythical, the malevolent, MALCHIOR!"

Ravens eyes widened and her breath drew short as the paper man changed into a massive black dragon with a purple underbelly. Beast Boy looked over to Raven's face, smelling her fear and seeing the terror in her eyes. He turned back to look at the dragon, swearing to himself that he wouldn't be powerless against him this time. _This time I'll be able to help Raven._ "I couldn't wait to see you again, Raven." The dragon said with smoke flowing from the angles of his lips. The Titans looked uncomfortable to say the least. They were shocked, worried, and kicking themselves for not being more prepared. "And last but not least! The man that made my plans all come together in a beautiful way. A biologist that worked alongside Beast Boy's parents that found a way to replicate the conditions of Beast Boy's powers. Formerly, Dr. Register." At this, Beast Boy took a step back. A look of confusion and disbelief on his face. "A psychopath after my own heart. The ZOOKEEPER!" At this, The Ravager flurried his arms as a man in his late thirties walked out of the container, with a devilish smile across his face. His purple, scaled face. "It's been a long time brat." He snarled at the green teen.

"Together, we are the FEARSOME FIVE!" He flourished once more, then with a grim and determined face. "And we will destroy you."

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><p>Half a football field away, Cyborg began running down the hill towards the hangar. "Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap! Running, running, running!"<p>

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><p><strong>I referenced Red Vs. Blue, Princess Bride, and to a lesser extent, WWE.<strong>


	5. Five Guy's Burgers and DragonsFightin

**I do not own the Teen Titans.**

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><p>Raven ducks, just in time to dodge Brother Blood, as he tries to grab her from behind, out of a portal. Rolling to his feet, the pale foe spins around to face the grey witch. "If you are to be my wife, than I must first test your mettle." "I will never be your wife!" Raven yelled as her hands and eyes glowed black. It was then that she noticed there was nothing to throw. She had to protect herself with her powers, alone. She creates a barrier with her powers to block a kick from Brother Blood.<p>

Robin starts to run towards Raven to help her but instead has to dive under a swipe from Ravager's sword. "You fly pretty fast, but I can cut your time in half!" Taunted The Ravager.

"This is going to be fun." Said the Zookeeper as he turned into a dragon next to Malchior. Due to his purple coloring, he appeared nearly identical to the ancient behemoth. "I agree." Sneered Malchior. "Fight us, green one. A battle with one dragon is a novel, but three? That's an epic." With a gulp, Beast Boy joked back, "Actually, I think it's a heavy metal song. A pretty good one too."

_I should avoid doing what they want me to for a while._ Turning into his newly acquired demon form, Beast Boy jumped through the dragon duo's fire, unharmed. _Speaking of heavy metal, I think I'm recreating an album cover right now._ Diving out of the fire Beast Boy leapt onto Zookeeper's neck and then jumped away in time to avoid a claw from Malchior. "Agh!" Zookeeper yelled. "Hit the brat, not me!" Beast Boy tried to repeat the feat on Malchior but was swatted away by the ancient one's tail. _I can't beat them like this. I have to play their game, but that doesn't mean I can't cheat._ BB thought to himself as he leapt onto Zookeeper's head and then into the air above them. He finally turned into a green/black dragon and landed on the backs of his enemies, smashing them into the ground with his mass. "Let's play some metal!"

Starfire was flying across the ceiling, grappling with her sister in a flurry of eye beams, star bolts, and Tameranian slurs.

Raven, once again, leapt back to avoid a strike from Brother Blood. She then found her legs immobilized by red vines wrapping around her legs through the concrete floor of the hangar. The vines then wrapped around her midsection, pinning her arms to her side. She tried to struggle against them but they only tightened their grip. Brother Blood closed the distance between them in a flash and pushed back Raven's hood. "Ah, my beautiful bride. Shall this be the moment of our first kiss?" He asked as he gripped her face in his hand, squeezing tightly. "No, I think I'll just have a taste of you to quench my thirst." As he moved her cape to reveal the nape of her neck, his hands moved to her shoulders, gripping them firmly. As his vampiric looking fangs scrapped along her neck Raven protested weakly against the strain of the vines. "No. No." As Brother Blood sank his teeth into her, drawing blood, she let out a scream of pain.

Across the room, Beast Boy was trapped, grappling with the other two dragons. Their claws buried into his side. _I can still win this! The others are counting on me!_ He thought to himself. It was then that he heard Raven's scream. _RAVEN!_ He thought, panicked. _No! I can't lose her!_ With his claws dug into the concrete, he pushed forward, towards Raven. The claws of his enemies tore chunks from his body and left streaks of blood falling to the ground. "Raven! I'm coming!" He yelled, determined to make it so.

"Oh, no you don't!" Shouted Zookeeper, as he and Malchior grabbed at Beast Boy's tail. A metal foot slammed into Malchior's head, knocking him into Zookeeper. "BOOYAH!" Yelled the rescuer. Flipping backwards onto his feet the half-metal teen said, "Cyborg is back and the butt kicking store is open for business!" Then with a wide grin he narrowed his eyes at the dragons, starting to get up. "And you two are my first customers."

As he charged, Beast Boy's vision blurred. Making a whistle like shape with his mouth, he blew fire in a concentrated stream next to Brother Blood in order to singe him. Portals opened up in front and behind Brother Blood, making the fire pass harmlessly through one and out the other, behind him. The pale villain turned to Beast Boy with blood shimmering off of his teeth. _Raven's blood!_ Beast Boy thought, furiously. "I'll kill you!" He screamed, as he fell upon the unholy priest. Brother Blood disappeared into one of his portals, leaving Beast Boy, in dragon form, crashing to the ground where he was, only a moment ago, standing. His head lay next to Raven, who was now on her knees, holding her neck. After a few heavy breaths, Beast Boy spoke to Raven. "Raven, are you…alright?" Looking over Beast Boy's bleeding and torn form, Raven was speechless. "Hey!" Beast Boy said, snapping Raven out of her daze. "Stop checking me out. I'm more than some piece of meat to be ogled." Beast Boy joked before his dragon form coughed twice, releasing some blood from his mouth.

"I-I'm fine." Raven managed, still in shock. "But- but this is too much." She said as her eyes watered. "I-I can't heal you." Looking at Raven with the eye on the same side of his head as her he said, "Hey, hey, hey. Don't cry alright? I-I'm fine with all of this but just…don't let the last thing I see be you crying. I've been there too many times when you've cried and I don't want to be a reason for you to cry. Do me a favor…and smile." Taking this in, Raven forced herself to pull her lips up to form a shaky, toothy, grin. Slightly painful on a face that wasn't used to it. "Heh heh. Good. I'd hate to be dragon you down with me." Raven's eyes grew confused at his timing for such a stupid joke. "Ha. I made you smile at one of my dumb jokes. I'm amazing." *keh keh keh* He coughed. _It's my last chance to tell her I love her, and I can't do it to her. She doesn't deserve to be burdened by it. _As he felt himself drifting away he thought to himself, _I'm coming dad, mom. I hope I did enough. Was good enough. Wasn't...a…burden._

As Beast Boy closed his eyes Raven dropped her smile. Since she grasped how dire the situation was, her mind scanned all the books she had ever read to find a way to save him. _Brother Blood wasn't going to kill me. Why'd he do this? That idiot. If-no, __**when**__ I save his life, I'm going to kill him._ It was then that she remembered something obscure. Something almost completely unrelated but that might work. All she would need was her own blood and his, and she had a handful of one while the other was in pools on the concrete. Wiping away her tears, she began preparing for the ceremony.

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><p><strong>I dont think I referenced anything in this one. If not, then I rock. Let this be a lesson, I hate OCs.<strong>


	6. Six Shooter

Beast Boy opened his eyes to see a white hood covering a beautiful face with tears in their eyes. He resisted asking if he was in heaven, to avoid the cliché, and instead said, "I thought I asked you not to cry?" In an unusual show of emotions, Raven grabbed his head and clutched it to her. "Don't die again, you idiot!" Pulling himself away from her, looking red in the face, he responded, "I promise to only die one more time, how's that?" Then, noticing the change of her costume's color he commented, "No offense, but I always thought your ability to change clothes was your least impressive power." Finally composed, Raven responded with, "Well, you say that, but.." As she gestured to his own outfit, now sporting the same white as her robe, in place of his purple. "Dude! You messed with my threads! I look like a sick panda!" As he fussed about green not going well with white, a dragon charged towards them.

Malchior had left the machine man to Zookeeper so he could finish off the green one and Raven. He hated them both. Raven, for imprisoning him a second time, and the green one for taking the guise of his kin. _How dare he!_ He thought to himself. _Once I have dealt with him, I'll scorch the purple one as well for the disgrace they bring to Dragonkind._ As he charged, he blew a powerful fireball at the duo, on the floor.

There was a split second after seeing the fireball for the two of them to react, but thankfully, that's all Beast Boy needed. The giant wing of a dragon surrounded Raven. The attack dissipated against the wing "What?!" Exclaimed Malchior, with fury. "Hmph. No matter, I will scorch you both!" He said, as he circle his opponent. He let loose his most devastating blast, infused with powerful dark magic, as it crackled with energy. Rearing his green head, Beast Boy thought to himself, _Raven really attracts some crazy guys…Ah, crap! That means I'm nuts too. _This thought gave him a warm feeling as he opened his jaws. What left them wasn't fire, but a beam of white. It met the fire and broke through it, slamming into Malchior and knocking him through the hangar wall.

This action surprised the fighters in the hangar into a state of pause. The Tamaranian sisters stopped fighting in midair to look, both still gripping the other's hair. Cyborg was paused on top of Zookeeper's head, with a dragon ear in each hand. Robin and Ravager stopped fighting and were both facing the two dragons. Both teams were seemingly waiting to see the battle's conclusion.

Standing up, Malchior wore a look of confusion and anger. He growled, "It- it's not possible. You've bonded?!" "Hey, Malchior!" Beast Boy said, ignoring the ancient one's words. His voice suddenly took on a new sound as Raven's voice joined his. "You know how you said the wizard wasn't powerful enough to defeat you? **How Raven(I) wasn't powerful enough?** …**Well we are now.**" Their eyes glowed as the black of Raven's magic combined with the white of Beast Boy's blast, breaking through Malchior's wing and smashing him unconscious against the hill.

Seeing his ace in the hole, fall under an, unaccounted for, element, Ravager quickly pressed a taser to the neck of a distracted Robin. Robin fell, almost comically, convulsing on the floor as Ravager yelled to the rest of his team. "Time to bail ship! The hit's a bust." He muttered that last part as he walked through a portal that was opened for him by Brother Blood. "And where the hell did you go?" He addressed the pale one as Brother Blood created more portals to swallow Blackfire and Zookeeper.

"No!" Blackfire yelled. "I could've beaten her that time!" Yelled Blackfire as she was inside the place between portals with the three other remaining members of the Fearsome Five. "Leave it for another time." Said Ravager, with his back to the team. "We need to know what that was, and how to beat it. It's what you don't know, that will screw you in a fight. A warrior should know that." Blackfire didn't appreciate being told this. "Maybe I should destroy you first." "Try it, and find out what your old cell looks like today. I bet the security has increased." Ravager threatened, while motioning at Brother Blood, indicating who he would give the assignment to. Blackfire turned around and stormed away to stand by Zookeeper. Zookeeper smiled and turned to her, "Feisty aren't you?" This elicited a snarl from Blackfire. "And how about you?" Ravager said, turning to Brother Blood. "Got any complaints?" "Me?" Brother Blood asked, pointing to himself. "I'm great! I got some of the Daughter of Trigon's blood." "…You're a sick man BB."

Back at the hangar the Titans celebrated the defeat of one of their toughest foes. "Dang, who knew you two could work so well together! The heck was that anyways?" Cyborg spoke through a wide grin. "Beats me." Beast Boy responded. "I was trying to breathe fire and the next thing I knew a bright light shot out of me instead! What was that? Huh, Raven? How am I even alive, for that matter?" Raven looked away from Beast Boy, "For now, it doesn't matter." "…Okay. Great…Real helpful there. And how are you Robin?" Their leader was dusting himself off from the hangar floor. "I'm fine just-", "A little shocked?" Beast Boy interjected. "…was that the only reason you asked?" "I'd be lying if I didn't say it had some influence." BB admitted. Robin sighed, "Let's alert the authorities of Malchior and Ravager's new associations and get back to the tower."

Robin turned to talk to Starfire about how she felt, seeing her sister again. As they left Beast Boy walked in the back of the group next to Cyborg, looking at Raven walking away while in thought. "Hate to tell you this man, but white really isn't your color. You look like a sick panda bear." Cyborg observed. "Yeah, well. Your rifle sucks."

Back at the tower Raven finally looked at Beast Boy after avoiding him the entire car trip. "We need to talk." She said to him. The rest of the Titans turned to look at her. Noticing their eyes, she added, "Beast Boy and I need to talk." Cyborg was quick to get the hint and left. Noticing Robin and Starfire remained, Raven added, "Alone." "Oh." Starfire said, as she too left. Now, only Robin remained. His arms crossed and his mask, inquisitive. "Hah." Raven sighed. "I'll tell you later." Satisfied with this answer, Robin finally left.

"So what is it?" Beast Boy asked. "How did you save me? Why did I have a power boost? Is that a muffin?" It is true that Raven was now holding a muffin. "When you were dying-", "I asked you a question! Is that a muffin?!" "Azar! Yes! Just take it already!" She shoved the muffin into his hands. Beast Boy spoke through bites of muffin, "Thanks, I haven't eaten today."

"As I was saying," Raven continued. "I didn't cast a spell. I performed a ceremony. Your healing was just a side effect." "Ceremony? Like a bar mitzvah?" "No not like a- you aren't Jewish!" "I could be Jewish. You've never seen me eat pork." "Shut up. How do I get through to you?" Raven thought out loud massaging her brow. "Okay, video games." "…I'm listening." Beast Boy responded. "Alright. Do any of them have wizards or sorcerers in them?" "Well yeah, but I usually play the warrior class." He said, almost boastfully. "Cyborg plays them though because they don't have tech guys so he says a mage is close en-". Raven cut him off. "Does that mage sometimes have an animal friend with them?"

"Well…yeah. A familiar. It follows them around and helps with fights, but what does that have to…oh no….no, no, no." Raven cocked her head at him. "I didn't think you'd catch on so fast." "No, no! I'm a human!" Beast Boy said, shaking his head side to side. "That's why I didn't think it would work. But…it did, and you're alive because it did." "Oh! My! God!" Beast Boy grasped his hair with his hands. "You're…my familiar." "NOOOOOOOOOOO!"


	7. Seven Dwarves or just Sleepy

"OOOOOOOOOOO" *gasp* "OOOOOOOOOO" "I should have waited to give you the muffin." "Yeah, well, now it's gone, and I'm a fairy saying 'Hey, listen!'." "You need to calm down." "Oh, I do?!** I** do?! And why's That?!" At this, a light bulb shattered in the corner. "Because our emotions are linked now." Raven started to explain. "It's like my empathy powers but more connected…and it's two way." Beast Boy stood, stunned by this. "I...it…the…um. I-I need to sit down now." He said as he plopped onto the ground.

Raven crouched down, resting on the front of her feet as her arms draped across her knees. "We have chairs right over there." She said, pointing to a table and some chairs, recently added to the lobby. "Those are new. I don't like new things anymore. This is new." Beast Boy said, through heavy breaths. "I'm sorry. I know this troubles you." "Yeah, cause we've got a mind meld or some nonsense…Can you summon me?" Raven looked away towards the chairs. "I think so. I didn't pay much attention to the book. I never thought I'd create the bond with anything, or anyone." She quickly added for BB's benefit.

"Why not? Didn't want some annoying bird following you around? Geez, we're gonna drive each other crazy." "It's not like either of us were the poster children for sanity to begin with." Raven joked with a small smile. "Heh, yeah. Wait. That was a joke! You can make jokes now! Oh God, you took my humor!" Beast Boy exclaimed. "I hope not, or else **I'll** scream." Raven said, while rolling her eyes. "I wasn't screaming…I was yelling in despair." Beast Boy pointed out, begrudgingly. "I didn't think I'd perform it because there's a…proximity factor." Raven began to explain. "A what?" Said the confused green teen.

"Never mind, I need to tell you about the first night of the bond." "First night…bond?" Beast Boy said, growing red in the face. "Yes…Why are you feeling embarrassed?" *Cough*Cough* "Never mind, you were saying?" After a pause, Raven continued. "The first night after a bond, the 'mage' and their 'familiar' see and feel each other's dreams." _Oh God. I've got to clean my mind. Do I get all my dirty thoughts out in the day or keep them bottled up and hope they hold till morning? Oh no…what if I dream about Raven?! Did I just pause in my mind?_ "Not dreams exactly…nightmares." Raven corrected herself. "Oh thank God…wait what?" Said Beast Boy.

Sighing in frustration, Raven continued. "We will share each other's nightmares. It's supposed to help the master, um. 'Mage'" She corrected herself, but not soon enough to feel a sting of resentment. Beast Boy didn't like the word 'master'. He didn't want to be anyone's 'property'. Raven continued. "To connect with the 'familiar' and vice versa. I didn't want to put any animal through that." Beast Boy's eyes softened at this. "I didn't know you were such a humanitarian." Raven defended, "Just because I eat meat doesn't mean I want to make animals suffer."

_I knew she wasn't that kind of person._ This feeling of happiness made Raven blush and move to raise her hood. Her legs had lost feeling though, and she ended up falling down. "Ow!" "Hahah!" Beast Boy laughed. He then noticed her death glare and stopped himself. "Heh heh, um." "What's so funny?" Raven asked. "It's uh. Just that, you usually are so calm and cool and seeing you fall like everyone else is…well…unusual." Raven paused. "You think I'm cool?" Raven looked up at him from under her hood with an arched eyebrow of disbelief. "Well, not as cool as me of course, but then again, who is? Ah, really it's a burden to have you stuck to me, but stay by my side and I'll make sure nothing happens to ya, alright kid?"

This show of bravado didn't need an empath to see through it. Unlike earlier that same day, this smile wasn't painful. But she did bury it in her knees. This made one, Garfield Logan's heart, flip in his chest. "Heh heh" He chuckled. Pulling her face together Raven raised it back up with a question. "Are you still hungry?" "Starving!" Beast Boy replied. "Well, okay. Let's find you some bamboo." She joked, while standing up. "Oh, ha ha." Beast Boy said with closed eyes as he stood up and replied in a sophisticated voice, "For your information I can't have any more bamboo. As you can see I am simply green from sickness of it!" They were smiling as they got on the elevator. Completely forgetting about the night that awaited them.

Raven and Beast Boy spent most of the day together. As a reward for defeating Malchior, Robin and Starfire took over their patrol, although Beast Boy suspected this was cover for a date. Cyborg was much more blunt about going out with that blonde girl that night. _Sarah? Sora? Saruman? Something like that. Anyways, now I'm alone with Raven. Eating dinner. Maybe she knows?_ "Hey, Raven? Who's that girl that Cyborg is dating?" Beast Boy asked. "Saruman." "Oh, I thought so…wait, what?" "Do you remember what I told you about tonight?" Raven asked, changing topics. "Yeah, it's hard to forget experiencing shared nightmares. Especially the worst ones."

Raven continued to explain. "It won't be like a lucid dream. You will not be able to know what is real or the dream." "Great. What's next? If I die in the dream I die in real life?" Beast Boy asked, half-jokingly. "No. That's stupid." Raven said, dismissively. "…If I'm reading books, you need to start watching movies." Beast Boy declared with a straight face. "No." Raven stated, simply while taking a bite of her food. "Fine then." Beast Boy said, leaning back in his chair. I'll just watch it and you'll see it in my mind, thanks to our new link." Looking up incredulously, Raven asked, "You really don't understand how this works, do you?" "Ha ha, oh Raven. Ha-no. No I don't." Beast Boy said, laughing and then dropping his face.

Looking down, while taking another bite, Raven declared, "You should sleep in my room tonight." This statement surprised Beast Boy into falling backwards off the chair he was balancing. "W-what? In your room? Like, um…in the same bed?" Beast Boy stammered, red in the face. Raven jumped up and slammed her hands on the table. "What?! No! On the floor! Bring a sleeping bag!" She shouted, also crimson hued. With a harrumph she continued. "Don't be a creep." "Hey, you've been in my head! You know I'm not a creep! Wait, how would I know if I am, am I?" BB defended, but then asked honestly. "Yes." Raven lied as a joke on Beast Boy. "Darn it, I had one thing going for me." The green teen joked with a goofy grin.

Raven elaborated. "When the nightmares leave…it would be best if someone was there to comfort…*cough* that is…" "We'll need each other." Beast Boy said, so she didn't have to. "Yeah." Raven admitted.

Later that night, Raven heard a knock at her door. Beast Boy was there, carrying a rolled up sleeping bag. She opened it, wearing just her leotard without her cape. "Good, you're here. You may come in." Raven said awkwardly, not being used to inviting people into places. It took everything Beast Boy knew about baseball to not react to the sight of her long slender legs. As he walked in he thought to himself, _Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth._

indicated the corner of her room, she had cleared for Beast Boy to sleep in. Laying out his bag and stepping in he noticed Raven was standing above him. "Um…Hey Rae…How's it goi-". "SLEEP!" Raven shouted, casting a spell that put Beast Boy, instantly to sleep. Sighing, Raven got in her own bed, and slowly drifted off. The last thing she felt was a tinge of fear, as she descended into the nightmares.

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><p><strong>In this chapter I reference Legend of Zelda, Venture Brothers, Lou Gherig, Lord of the Rings, Red vs. Blue, and Parks and Recreation The "familiar" idea is based on D&amp;D and the animals you can summon in Naruto.<strong>


	8. Eight Ball, Corner Dream

**Please excuse the dream sequences. It'll only be two chapters and then never again. I'm sorry. I dont own the rights to fight, party, or the Teen Titans. When you picture the village, feel free to imagine the one from Beauty and the Beast. Which I also dont own.**

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><p>Logan woke in his cabin. As he rose to prepare for his morning, he admired the carvings he made in the logs when he built it. He yawned as he walked outside and grabbed his axe to chop wood for the villagers. The wind blew away the smoke from his breath in the chilly fall air. <em>Winter is coming.<em> He thought to himself, as he swung his axe down to split a block of wood. _The villagers will need this to survive. They'll need me._ He grinned to himself. As he loaded his cart with wood, the sun shines off the sweat on his green skin.

His skin had been that color since his childhood and it made him an outsider, but in the fall and winter months he feels loved. Everybody needs him. _It'll be different this year. _He thought to himself. _This time, I'll make them like me. _He smiled as he rode the donkey led wagon down his hill and out of the forest.

Riding into town, he saw the yellow tops of the houses. The red bricks of the road meant he was among civilization. _I wish I was like them._ He waved at a man and his wife from his wagon. They grimaced as they waved back and Logan could see the husband's arm tighten around his wife. Logan turned away and looked down. _It'll just take them awhile to get used to me again. I'm sure._

Logan's first stop is at the small bookshop. The two sisters that owned and worked there were always nice to him. He walked in with an armful of wood. "The cold has come, and so has the woodsman!" He announced as he came in. He saw the faces of the sisters turn to greet him with smiles. Rachel and Theresa. They couldn't have been more different. The youngest had grey skin and black hair. Her attitude matched her look, as she was quiet and dark. Much her opposite, the blonde long haired beauty was a beam of energy. She looked caged in the bookstore, while the former looked like a squirrel nestled into its home.

"Well, hi ya, Mr. Lumberjack." Theresa said in a flirtatious voice. Logan smiled bashfully. He always thought that if anyone could love him it would be the adventure loving bookkeeper. "Please, call me Logan." "Firewood goes behind our shop Logan, not through it." Rachel pointed out while adjusting her round glasses. Just because she was nice, didn't mean she liked his feelings towards her sister. "Oh, I suppose the spring and summer apart made me forget." Logan said with another grin.

As he walked back outside and dropped the logs under their tarp in the back he thought to himself, _Could I go back in or would that be pushing it. _With a grin to himself he thought, _Nah, I have all fall and winter to make permanent friends with them._ Then, with a concerned frown; _Besides, there are people that will be much harder to win over._

Riding his donkey to the tavern down the street, he grabbed two armfuls of wood. Being the tavern, it was the place people were most likely to be at night in a small village. _Here, the firewood is held inside, at least. If only the owner was more cordial._ *ding*ding* "Well, if it isn't the Grinch." Sneered the hulking black man behind the bar. "You got to read the rest of that book Victor." Logan grinned back as he placed the firewood in its box on the stone fireplace. "Yeah, as soon as his heart grows I find the whole thing hard to believe." Victor said, with a chuckle. "…well, I should be going."

"Yeah, I'd hate people to think we knew each other. I'm not as well established as the bookstore." Logan grimaced, _I hate that my knowing them might make them outsiders like me. Am I being too selfish? If I don't pursue friends I'd resign myself to be just the guy, or freak, they think I am. _"Hey!" Victor said, with a whack noise from his bat hitting his bar top."I don't know what you're thinking about doing, but you better remember my bat here." "Heh heh." Logan chuckled bashfully while backing slowly out of the tavern. _I'm sure staring at the floor with a frown is the perfect way to make friends. Nice going Logan._

He went throughout the town, dropping off the rest of the wood outside of private domiciles. He could understand why they didn't want to make small talk by their homes with the freak. His last stop was a small restaurant owned by Kory. He has heard her talked about as if she was the most pure and joyful person in the world. His own theory is that she feeds off the joy of the people around her, and people's reaction to him has earned him her hated.

It was dark when he got back to his cabin. He lit a lantern and sat down to his book. It was the only Christmas present he had been given since the death of his parents. It was a secret that the black haired bookkeeper gave him the copy of "Beauty and the Beast", _Which was clear because she hadn't been run out of town. _He opened the book, to read where he had left off. "You accuse me of murder; and yet you would, with a satisfied conscience, destroy your own creature. Oh, praise the eternal justice of man!"

Logan raised his head, shaking. _This isn't "Beauty and the Beast". _He turned to the cover. "Frankenstein." Shuddering more fervently he turned back to the inside of the book. "He had preferred to incur her anger rather than cause her pain. He had kept all the pain for himself." A tear fell onto the pages as he turned the book to see it was now, "The Hunchback of Notre Dame". He threw it against the wall. _What- what is this?_ Then the flicker of torchlight caught his eye. He turned to see that outside of his window, the light of several torches were coming up his hill from the town.

_They're coming for me! _He thought in panic. He quickly blew out the torch and ran from his house to the bushes near the trees. A slim man with slick black hair led the mob and stood in front of the house. Logan recognized him as the constable, holding his nightstick. "He doesn't appear to be here." The constable said, scratching his head. "Then smoke him out!" Shouted a villager Logan didn't recognize. _They never liked me, but this? Why would they do this to me? My home? *gasp* my parents!_ He remembered his most prized possession. A portrait of his parents.

Logan jumped from the bushes yelling, "Stop!" He ran and knocked the torch out of the constable's hand. He felt a strike across his back and fell to his knees. "The monster broke my bat!" _Monster. They've never called me a monster before. Or is it just to my face. Wait, I know that voice! It's Victor. Victor hit me!_ Logan stood back up and glared at the barkeep until out of the corner of his eye he saw his cabin on fire. He looked to the side and saw the girl that held the torch that burned his world down.

Theresa. "Theresa…why did you-?" "Why did I do it!?" She shouted at him through tears. "Because I am tired of being nice to you! Of putting up with your deviant glares to keep you away from my sister! I even promised to be the new lumberjack if we slayed you." "You…hate me? But I…" Logan stammered. "You what?!" Theresa shouted. "Thought I liked you?! You're nothing but scum! A monster that blackmails people into being nice to you or die in the cold!" "I…I never" Logan began to explain himself before he was stabbed through the shoulder with a kitchen knife. "ahahaha!" Cried a wicked voice. "And you'll never be a plague on my customers again!" It was Kory. _I knew she didn't like me…but._

Logan turned and ran further up his hill in the forest. It was at this moment it began to rain. Logan found himself sloshing up a muddy incline. He finally found his way to a cave. In the distance he could hear, "Freaks got my knife!" Logan grinned at this. _At least I've got her knife. _Walking to the back of the cave he saw a light. Despite it not having been kind to him in the immediate past, he followed it. He saw Rachel, sitting alone, reading. Logan decided to knock on the cave wall to make himself known.

Rachel jumped from the rock she sat on. "Ah! What are you doing here?!" "It's okay. Don't be afraid of me." _Please don't be afraid of me._ "There was…something happened to my cabin, and I came here for shelter." It wasn't a complete lie, and he didn't want her to let the others know where he was. "Oh…well, okay then." She said, sitting and adjusting her glasses. She was wearing a cloak to protect her from the wind and cold but seemed familiar to Logan. He just couldn't place it. Like it was a part of some distant memory. "Should we sit down?" Rachel asked. "Hmm? Oh, yes." Logan said, snapping out of thought.

"I usually come up here when everybody has their meetings. Whatever those are about." Rachel explained. "I think I could take a guess." Logan commented bitterly as he pointed out the knife, still in his back. Rachel let out a gasp as she instantly grabbed the knife handle and pulled it out. "AGHH! What the hell?!" Logan yelled.

"You can't let it stay in there idiot!" She yelled at him as she tore the bottom off her robe to wrap around his shoulder. "I don't think it matters much. Everyone I know is trying to kill me- I'm sorry. **Slay** me. Like a dragon. A monster." Rachel tied the strip around his wound making Logan wince. "Well until they stick your head on a pike, you need to stay healthy." With a gulp, Logan replied. "You read the worst books."

Rachel made him lay on the ground so she could check his wound. He felt her straddling his back. _Why is she doing that?_ He felt her fingers brush against his bare back. He felt pressure from her hands as she leaned down to his ear and whispered "turn around". As he turned, he saw a fire in her eyes. Not the reflection of the fire next to them, but the same fire he saw in the eyes of all the other villagers when they approached his cabin. Hatred. _What? Why now?_

He heard the snap of a twig and turned to the cave opening. He saw the rest of the villagers lit up by a lightning strike. Logan gasped in pain and turned back to Rachel to see the kitchen knife stuck in his stomach. "Die, monster." Rachel spit at him. Logan's eyes pleaded at her as he coughed up blood. "Die, monster!" said the blonde owner of a boot pressed on his arm. "Kill the beast. Slay the monster." The villagers chanted as they gathered around him. Some stabbed him, some spit on him. He couldn't say anything. When he tried, the blood in his mouth bubbled out. His vision blurred and faded as his last thought was birthed into his dying mind, _I'm sorry._


	9. Nine inch NailNeedle

Beast Boy jerked up, yelling. "Ah!" He was drenched in sweat and tears. "That was…That was terrible." He said, covering his face with his hands. It was then that he noticed the shackles on his wrists. "Raven?" He asked the room, but no one answered. Suddenly the chains pulled his arms and legs out and taunt against the platform he found himself on. He struggled but the force pulling his limbs was too much to resist. "Let. Me. Go!" He shouted into the darkness. "Always so petulant, aren't we Craig?" BB's eyes widen. _Only one man ever called me that._ Stepping out of the shadows was Nicholas Galtry. Beast Boy's former legal guardian after his parents died. A cruel man that stole from him and was after his powers.

"No…No, I got away from you. The Doom Patrol, the Titans." "Cant stop me from getting what's mine…you." Galtry cut him off. "You thought I was after your powers but the truth was, I had them all along…I had you." He said with a sinister smile and gleam in his eyes. "I have seen your true potential and now it's time to reap the field." "What- what do you mean?" Beast Boy inquired. "I will harvest your body. First the blood…then the organs… then, the shell." As Galtry says this, a large pole descended from the ceiling. Attached to it was many arms with thick needles, the width of straws, attached to them, pointed at different veins on his body.

"No, no." Beast Boy whined, while squirming to get away from the menacing points as the machine began to whir. "The Titans, my friends will stop you." Beast Boy said to himself more than Galtry. More than wanting to scare his captor, he wanted to comfort himself. "Your 'friends' are done with you." Galtry mocked Beast Boy. "You were a burden for too long, you were the weakest link so they said 'goodbye'. Of all the teenagers ever told that they were wasting their potential, you might be the one who wasted the most. So…be quiet, and accept your fate." Galtry leaned his mouth next to Beast Boy's ear. "Because you deserve this. And you know it." Backing away from the boy, the needles pierced Beast Boy's skin. The sound of the tubes taking his blood would have made any man weep. He could not hear it over his own screams.

Raven walked through the double sliding doors into the Titan's common room. "Surprise!" Shouted all of the honorary Titans. "What? What is this?" Raven asked. "It's your birthday party! You're seventeen girl!" Yelled a jubilant Speedy, wearing a party hat and blowing a toy horn. "Here, Raven." Aqualad handed Raven a seaweed covered box.

"Um..thanks. What is it?" Raven asked, as the cold seawater drenched her hands. "It's a tome of ancient Atlantean spells. I pulled some strings and had a copy made for you." At this news, Raven's mouth revealed a huge smile and she wrapped her arms around the athletic merman. "Thank you! This is amazing!" "I thought we could read some of it together later, if it's fine with you?" Said Aqualad, with a wink and sly smile. Raven backed up quickly, blushing. "All-right-that's-great-and-all-but-where's-the-cake?!" Kid Flash exclaimed in a quickened voice. "Cyborg's getting it ready, calm down!" Yelled Jinx.

Raven blinked, and found herself in a place filled with fire and burnt stone. "No…NO!" She shouted. "Why not?" Said a voice behind her. She turned to see her father, Trigon, sitting on a throne of bones. "You wouldn't let me into your world, so I brought you back to mine. This is your home anyways." "No!" Shouted Raven. "This is not my home! My home is with my friends!" She felt a hand on her shoulder, and turned to see a snarling demon, trying to hold her down. She spun on him and blasted him back with her powers. She then noticed all the other demons around her. _I'm surrounded. Well they won't take me without a fight._ "You will not touch me demons!" Raven yelled as she let her powers go. For once, she didn't have to worry about innocent bystanders. If she couldn't escape her father's home, She'd destroy it.

When she was done, the demons laid, dead, on the ground. Turning back to Trigon she yelled, out of breath. "Who else is there?! I will defeat them all! I will never be controlled by you again!"

The form of Trigon shimmered. Raven paused in shock. "R-Raven?" Raven turned around to see Cyborg in a chef's hat and white apron. _Why is Cyborg here?_ All of a sudden she was no longer in her father's dimension. She was in the Titan Tower's common room, and she was surrounded by the mangled corpses of the honorary Titans.

"No. No, no, no. I-I didn't… I couldn't…" Raven fell to the floor crying. "I'm a monster." Cyborg rushed to Raven's side. "You aren't a monster, girl. We'll figure this out." "How…How is this possible?" Raven cried. "Raven?" Cyborg said. Raven looked up to Cyborg's right arm open and charge its' sonic cannon while encased in black. "Raven! What are you doing?!" Cyborg shouted. "I'm not doing it!" Raven yelled in panic. She covered her eyes and screamed as the cannon blasted Cyborg's head off his shoulders.

Raven ran, covering her face to the elevator and hit the ground floor. She rode the elevator down, huddled in the corner. Her cape couldn't hide her anymore. It hid her from the judgment of others, but now, it can't hide her from herself. "Friend Raven?" Raven looked up to see the bright green eyes of Starfire. "Starfire! Get away from me! I…I'm a monster!" Raven shouted, pushing away Starfires' arms.

"We've switched bodies before Raven. I know that you are not a monster." Starfire grabs Raven in a deep hug. This hug wasn't as strong as Starfire's usual, but more tender and comforting. Raven felt herself sinking into the hug. She didn't notice her cape start to flow around them. When Starfire began to be swallowed up by the darkness in her cape, it was already too late. Raven tried to grab her hands, but all she touched was fabric.

Raven ran from the tower, covering her eyes with her arm. She ran into Robin, who was walking into the tower. "Raven? What's wrong?" "Get away from me?!" Raven struggled to escape from his grip. "No. You've been inside my head, you know you can trust me." Robin held her by the shoulders, refusing to let go. "Please. I don't want to kill you!" Raven cried. "Calm down, Raven" Robin said. "You're not a mo-ugh guh." Robin gurgled and fell back. Raven looked down to see his sliced throat.

Raven broke down. She fell onto the dirt outside the tower and wept. She opened her eyes, to see Beast Boy shaking her. She was in her room, in the tower. "-aven! Raven wake up! It's a dream! It's just a dream!" Beast Boy yelled as he shook her out of her dream. "Beast Boy!" The, now awake, Raven hugged Beast Boy with tears streaming down her face. "It was terrible! I was killing my friends and I couldn't stop!"

Beast Boy said nothing. "Beast Boy?" Raven asked. Beast Boy said nothing, but Raven felt a dripping on her back. With wide eyes, she pulled away from Beast Boy to see a dark claw sticking through his stomach. Blood dripped from his mouth as his eyes faded. Raven woke up screaming.


	10. Ten-tative Storytelling

Raven and Beast Boy woke up simultaneously, screaming. Raven had taken the precaution to soundproof the room but did not think to nail down her things. As her powers warped around the inside of the room, Beast Boy found himself clutching to a bookshelf. BB could see Raven buried in her knees, trying to control her emotions. The green teen tried to jump to her bed like he had leapt to calm down Terra, before. He did not know that magic did not work like rock tornados and soon found himself face down on the floor.

Struggling onto Raven's bed, and bearing a blow from an overly large book about trolls, Beast Boy grabbed Raven's shoulders and held her tight. _I know this is what I did in her nightmare, but what else can I do?! Wait…our emotions are connected. Why aren't I freaking out too?_ "You're taking them all aren't you?!" Beast Boy shouted over the noise of Raven's things spinning around. "You can't do that! You can't protect me!" Beast Boy forced her to look at him and to hear him by placing his forehead against hers.

"Let me help you!" He yelled. "You can't defeat these nightmares! They're too powerful!" Raven yelled back with her eyes clenched shut. "I've been fighting them my whole life! Let me help you!" Raven's eyes jerk open and shined with a bright light. As Beast Boy's eyes did the same, they both chanted Raven's mantra. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos. Azarath Metrion Zinthos."

As they chanted, the various items around the room gently landed on the ground. The two opened their eyes to look at each other, tears streaming down both their faces, silhouetted in the moonlight. Beast Boy quickly scanned the room. "I think your room's messier than mine is for once." He joked. The two started snickering through the tears and, before long, they were both laughing at a joke, both could later admit, wasn't really funny.

Beast Boy was the first to wake up the next day. His nostrils filled with the smell of lavender, and he opened his eyes to see the peaceful, sleeping face of Raven. His eyes grew wide at the realization that he was in the same bed as Raven. _AAAAAHHHHHHH! No. Shh! Quiet. Got to be quiet. aaaaahhhhhh! _Slowly slithering out of the bed, Beast Boy still screamed in his head, silently. Looking around the room, he saw the mess it was in. _Well, you can't just leave. My sleeping bag is under her dresser. I could move it but it might be a cursed dresser. Oh, c'mon, where would somebody get a cursed dresser? …Evil Ikea. Heh. Got to remember that one._

Deciding that Raven's books were the least cursed items in the room Beast Boy started gathering them to but on the bookshelf, the only furniture that was right side up. As he picked up a book, he saw it was titled "Familiars". Beast Boy sat on the floor and combed through the book about his current predicament. While reading the book, Beast Boy saw Raven getting up out of the corner of his eye. "So…25 miles huh?" Beast Boy said to her. "What?" Raven asked while rubbing her eyes, still puffy from tears.

"We can only be 25 miles from each other or else we'll get sick or something, Right?" "…yes." Raven replied. "That must be the 'proximity factor' you were talking about." Beast Boy mused, out loud. "Does the 'summoning' thing hurt?" He asked. "It shouldn't." She said. "But we are different than regular cases…you're taking this better than before." "There are worse people to be tied to…for the life of me I can't think of any but I'm sure there are." A pillow hit Beast Boy in the side of the head. "Oh yeah, like I didn't get hit with enough things last night." He grinned.

Raven looked down somberly. "Do you want to talk about it? Our nightmares?" She asked. "Only if you think it would help. I'm not used to talking about them." Beast Boy said through a frown. Raven felt sad pain well up in Beast Boy and realized it would hurt them both if they addressed it when it was so fresh on their minds. Whether out of fear or kindness she said, "Let's leave it for another time. It'll keep." Beast Boy breathed a sigh of relief.

In an alley behind a Chinese buffet in Jump City, four ominous figures met. "Here's the new plan." The one known as Ravager said. "We're short a member, so we return the favor." The silver cowled one explained while pacing in front of his teammates. "Brother Blood will transport us into Titan's Tower. Blackfire, you keep Starfire busy, while Zookeeper does the same with Cyborg. The plan is, to kill Robin." "…Um…I think I see a hole in your plan. In fact it's the same hole as last time. What about the witch and the toad?" Zookeeper said. "Oh, I'm well prepared for that thanks to you, good doctor."

Ravager grinned, while holding up three darts filled with clear liquids. "He'll lose control once more and the dog will kill its master." "No!" Shouted Brother Blood. "She is to be my bride! You will not let her die!" He threatened. "If she is what you say she is, she should be more than capable of winning at the cost of her friend's life throwing herself further into darkness and closer to your-yadda yadda magic prophecy junk." Ravager snarled.

"I've made many changes in my plans to allow you to keep the girl, don't make yourself more trouble than you're worth!" Ravager threatened the pale one. "We attack at sundown, and tonight there will be blood!" Ravager yelled, rallying his compatriots of crime. "But first! Egg rolls!" He yelled, just as triumphantly.

* * *

><p><strong>No more dream squences! Yay! Back to basics!<strong>


	11. Eleven Pun Flu Ow

Beast Boy had gone back to his room before the other Titans woke up. Leaving his room for breakfast he thought to himself, _It's a good thing the rest of my costumes are still purple. Then again, I really don't know much about her power to change clothes colors. It never seemed important. Heh, maybe she can change skin color too. On the other hand, being green might be better than being white as a ghost all the time._ "You're about to walk into a door." A monotone voice told him. "Hmm?-jow!" Beast Boy yelled as he ran into the one swing able door in the building. "I told you." Said the steady voice of the purple clad witch to the green teen on the floor.

"And I sincerely appreciate it." Beast Boy replied while getting up. Robin had insisted on getting the wooden door with a window in it for his office of investigations. Everyone knew it was for the film noir detective image Robin sometimes aimed for but they didn't object. "I'm gonna turn into a beaver and eat that door." Beast Boy grumbled as raven pulled him towards the common rooms doors. "C'mon we should tell the others about our situation." "Well, we could do that or…" Beast Boy paused in front of the door into the common room, facing Raven. "We could do literally anything else."

"No." Raven responded, while pushing him through the doors, resulting in him falling down the few stairs, into the common room. "Raven, what's the problem?" Robin asked with an arched brow. The team was all sitting around the counter top with bowls of cereal. Raven dragged Beast Boy by the ear to the end of the table. "You all are probably wondering what happened at the hangar and why Beast Boy's alive, right?" Raven asked. After a moment of exchanged looks, Cyborg responded. "To be honest, I kind of forgot that happened." "Dude. Come on." Beast Boy responded. "I've beaten two big bad guys and you can't even remember it?"

Robin responded. "Are you sure you want to label Dr. Light as a 'big bad guy'?" Now Beast Boy looked agitated. "Dick!" He declared at Robin. "What?! How did you find out?!" Robin shouted, in shock.

"Because you forgot too." Beast Boy explained, confused. "Ah…right…that's why…yes." Robin said, retaking his seat slowly. "Anyways," Raven continued. "I performed a ceremony that basically made Beast Boy my 'familiar'." After a pause Starfire raised her hand. "Excuse me, friend Raven, but aren't we all familiar with friend Beast Boy?" Raven's eyes narrowed in frustration. "No, Starfire. This is different. He's my familiar." "Then he is our familiar too. Am I correct?" Starfire asked, still confused.

Pinching the bridge of her nose Raven tried once more to explain. "No, It's not like that, we've made a special bond that-" Starfire cut her off. "Oh, You have bonded?! That is most glorious! But where is the customary earth ring?" This question drew spit takes from both Robin and Cyborg. Raven's face turned red, and Beast Boy began scooching away from the temperamental sorceress next to him. "I-we! Don't! It's not! Gah!" Raven exclaimed, in a frustrated tone.

Ignoring Raven's outburst Starfire continued. "So, when is the ceremony of showering with the bride?" At this point Beast Boy dove under the table, Robin's eyes grew wide as saucers, and Cyborg began to laugh more than he ever had in his life. "THAT IS NOT WHAT THAT MEANS!" Raven yelled, sufficiently embarrassed. Cyborg considered the experience worth having to replace the light bulbs in the common room.

Still, with a big smile on her face Starfire exclaimed. "I shall fetch something blue of mine for you to borrow!" And she flew out of the room. "Oh God! Stop it! I can't take it! It's too much! Ha Ha Ha!" Cyborg yelled while pounding the table.

Robin stood up from the table. "Raven, why don't we talk about this in my office?" Robin suggested. Breathing out her agitation, Raven agreed, "That seems like it would be for the best." As the two caped comrades left the common room, Beast Boy peeked out from under the table. "Man, that was the best." Cyborg sighed.

"So, you really a familiar now? Like the ones in those videogames?" Cyborg asked. "Yeah, looks that way." Beast Boy replied, while standing up. "We've been through some weird stuff but this is a whole other level." Cyborg observed. "Do you die if she dies?" "Geez man! Why'd you have to go and bring that up for?" Beast Boy yelled. Looking bashfully at the ground, he added, "It's not like I would've been fine with- I mean if that ever…What?" Cyborg responded. "Oh, nothing. Tell me more about how you'd feel if Raven died."

"Well, I'd be sad man. She's one of us, like our…um…sister, yeah." "**Beast Boy?"** A voice came from the intercom. Beast Boy and Cyborg looked up confused. "God?" Beast Boy asked. "**What? No. It's Robin. Stop feeling so much, its distracting Raven."** "Oh, okay. Sorry dude." Beast Boy said, bitterly while shoving his middle finger towards the speaker. **"Don't do that."** Cyborg and BB jumped and began scanning the room for a camera.

"Wait!" Beast Boy said, turning on his heel. "Did you ask me that stuff to see if that would happen?" He accused Cyborg. "Maybe." Cyborg replied. "How much range do you have on that?" "It's not a walkie talkie!" Shouted Beast Boy, indignantly. "Whatever, get some food and let's play a video game!" Cyborg exclaimed.

"All right, fine." Said Beast Boy, dismissing the potential argument. He dropped onto the couch next to Cyborg and grabbed a game controller, with a breakfast pastry sticking out of the side of his mouth. Cyborg noticed Beast Boy playing a little less passionately than he used to. No longer jolting around with his video game character. "So, Raven can be effected by your emotions, can you be effected by hers?" Cyborg inquired.

"I should, If she'd let me. I can tell it's a burden on her but she won't let me help her handle them." Beast Boy paused the game, and looked blankly ahead. "Heck, I'm not even sure if I can help her. I'm not exactly what you might call, 'Zen'." Hoping to distract his pal, Cyborg tried to change the topic.

"So…bet it'll be hard to keep secrets from Raven from now on, huh?" "…yeah." Beast Boy replied cautiously. "Why?" _Does he know I like Raven? _ "Well I'm just saying." Cyborg continued. "If a certain green bean had something he'd want to keep hidden from dear sweet Raven, he wouldn't be able to do that for very long, would he?" _**He knows! Run and hide!**__ No, that's crazy. Wait. Who said that? _

"I-I don't know what you're talking about dude." Beast Boy stammered. "What are you, kidding me?" Cyborg asked, incredulously. "She's totally going to find out you're the one that put bleach in her laundry that one time." "Oh, that?!" Beast Boy shouted. "Dude! That was months ago!"

"Yeah, like that would matter to Raven. Hey, what'd you think I was talking about?" Cyborg inquired. Unpausing the game, Beast Boy sidestepped the question. "Nothing, man. I'll tell her later, better to get it over with." _Might as well tell her I like her, too, if Cyborg's right. __**Please don't.**__ Okay! What was that?! Hello? …God? _


	12. The Dirty Dozen

Beast Boys' eyes opened. His head throbbing. Looking down, his hands felt sticky. They were covered in red. _Blood. Whose blood is…_ "What have I done?"

* * *

><p><em>Alright, I'll tell her tonight.<em> What had started as a bad idea was now a bad plan. Convinced he had the options of telling her how he feels about her, or her finding out before he does. Beast Boy was sitting on the roof, his legs dangling off the side. "So…what'll I say?" He pondered to the sky. "Hey, hello, hi. This might come as a surprise to you. No, that's no good. Y'know, prison changes a man…god, no."

Beast Boy struggled to think of a way to express himself. "So, your dad seems okay with it. Ha-ha. This is gonna be a disaster." _**I know.**_ Beast Boy leapt to his feet and twisted around to look all over. "All right, who said that?!" Nobody answered as he was seemingly alone.

A second later, a giggling orange alien dive bombed BB and threw him into the air before catching him in a, patent pending, death hug. "Oh, I am so excited familiar friend Beast Boy!" Starfire crowed. "Oh, good. My title's growing longer. I must get new business cards." Jested a lightheaded Beast Boy.

"Look! I have the something blue!" Starfire said, excitedly. She held up a blue rock that seemed to radiate with energy. "Wow. That's great Star. What is it?" Beast Boy inquired, handling the rock. "It was a gift from my Galfore. It was once part of a doomed planet." Starfire said. "Well, that sounds like something Raven would like but we aren't engaged, or married, or dating…or anything." Starfire let out a gasp. "What did you do?!" She accused the green one.

"Why would you assume I did something? It's not like I go around messing things-okay, never mind. That tracks. But we never were. Basically, I'm an 'animal' that is 'magically', 'attached' to 'Raven' and that's how 'she' 'saved me'." Beast Boy explained. "I do not think you are using the 'aerial quotations' correctly." Starfire said. "It's possible, but no one up here knows the correct way so it doesn't matter." Beast Boy shrugged. "I can now see how my excitement this morning embarrassed Raven and yourself. I must make sure to apologize." Starfire exclaimed before rushing away down the side of the building.

"You never apologized to me but okay." Beast Boy said out loud to himself. He pocketed the blue rock and told himself he'd return it to Starfire first chance he got. _**She scares me.**__ Oh, she's just outgoing. You'll get used to- hey, alright who is this?!...damn. It's gone again. Seems strangely familiar though._

Looking out at the ocean, Beast Boy saw the sun approaching the horizon. "Geez. It got late, fast. Well, it's time to face the music." Beast Boy sighed to himself as he walked to the roof entrance. He found Raven, alone, in the common room kitchen, making tea. "Yo, Raven. I, uh, wanted to talk to you…about something, some things, several things, or just one thing." "Go ahead." Said Raven. "Really? It's okay?" Beast Boy asked. "You're rambling and your emotions have been erratic all day. Whatever you have to say, you're practically screaming it emotionally, so I insist you speak your peace." Raven responded.

Beast Boy took a deep breath and gulped before continuing. "Well, I-I've been feeling this way for awhile. And I think It's time I told you something…" _Run away! Run away! Ah, it's that voi-oh no wait. That was me._ Suddenly Robin strolled into the common room and over to the kitchen. He began getting out ingredients and putting them into a juicer. "Uh, Robin? We're kind of having a private conversation here." Beast Boy pointed out as politely as possible. "Oh, don't mind me. I won't listen in or anything." Robin responded, dismissively. "Ignore him. Continue." Raven said. "Okay, well…as I was saying. Raven…I-" **RRRRRRRRRRRRRRR**. Beast Boy was interrupted by Robin's juicer churning food, powder, and liquid into a protein shake. "Dude!" Beast Boy yelled, to get Robin's attention. "Oh…sorry." Robin said.

"Alright." Beast Boy said, ready to continue. "Raven, I-" **RRRRRRRR.** The juicer started up and then stopped suddenly as Robin was trying to structure the juicing in between breaks in their conversation. Trying to Ignore it, Beast Boy was determined to say what he felt. "Raven I-" **RRRRRRR.** "…Raven I-" **RRRRR**. "…RavenI-" **RRR**. "DICK!" Beast Boy yelled at his team leader. "What? How did you know? Did Starfire tell you?!" Robin asked with a panicked look on his face. "The hell are you talking about?!" Beast Boy shouted. "I'm trying to have a conversation here and you're-" The ground under them began shaking and stopped after a second.

Flipping his communicator into his hand Robin called his team's two absent members. "Cyborg! Starfire! What was that?" Cyborg was the first to answer from the gym. "There was an explosion in the elevators. I'll turn on the security-…clever girl." Cyborg was then slammed into from his left by a purple triceratops and his communicator fell to the ground. "Cyborg?!" Robin shouted. "Starfire! Cyborg's under attack in the gym and needs your help!" Robin yelled into his communicator. "He is not the only one!" Starfire shouted back, through static. "My sister is outside the tower and I am trying to stop her from destroying it!" "Darn it!" Robin winced. "Hold her off, we'll be right there!" He shouted before hanging up.

Beast Boy yelled, in a panicky way. "Okay, we a plan of attack, a plan of defense, and a plan of finding out why my arm hurts!" All three titans paused to look at Beast Boy's left arm and saw three empty syringe darts stuck in it. Beast Boy reacted. "Oh. That's it...You son of a…" Beast Boy reacted, as he blacked out.

* * *

><p><strong>Guess who the mystery voice is and I'll mention you in the next chapter. Jurassic Park reference. I wonder what that rock could be?<strong>


	13. Baker's Dozen

Beast Boy opened his eyes to see the white room of his mind. It looked like a hurricane had gone through it. It was much bigger than before, but there were large claw gashes on the walls and darkness covered most of the room. He felt small hands on his back and chest help him up. "Are you okay?" A wavering voice asked him. "Yeah, I'm fine Raven." Beast Boy's eyes adjusted and saw that this Raven in his head with him was wearing a grey robe. "Wait…you aren't Raven are you? You're Timid." Timid looked down at her boots and murmured, "I like to think of myself as Raven."

"I'm sorry, it's just that last time the complete her was in…wait a minute!" BB exclaimed. "You're the voice in my head!" "…yes." Timid admitted. "And you were the one telling me not to confess to raven!" "…yes." Beast Boy was on a deductive roll. "But you are Raven! Which means you wouldn't have done it unless you…knew she didn't…feel the same…" Beast Boy slowed down as he came to the crushing realization he was once again on the butt end of a crush.

"Will…will you tell her?" Beast Boy asked. Timid shook her head side to side fervently. "I don't like to cause trouble." "Well, there's one bright side." Beast Boy said with a frown. He found himself staring at the shadow. It looked comfortable, like a big fluffy bed at the end of a long day. "It's not that she hates you." Timid said, forcing Beast Boy to fall down and groan in exasperation. "No! No! I'm sorry!" Timid covered. "I mean, she doesn't think of you romantically! You're like her brother to her! She's never even thought of you as a romantic possibility!" Each sentence resulted in more psychological weight being dropped on BB and his groan to get louder.

Getting back up, Beast Boy frowned at Timid. "No offense, but you're a real buzzkill." He suddenly spotted a shadow moving through the dark. "I know. I'm sorry. I wish-". She was cut off as Beast Boy tackled her to the ground, barely dodging a demon's claw plunging into the wall were she was standing. Everything in the room, aside from Timid, became static and high pitched. Beast Boy picked up Timid and ran into the shadows. He ran around, dodging swinging claws and gnashing teeth.

The tail of a man sized dragon swept under Beast Boys' legs and he hit the ground hard. Timid fell away from him. Looking up, Beast Boy saw three figures in the shadows. The Beast, the Demon, and the Dragon. Beast Boy stood up to face them, nursing the arm he landed on. "If this is like last time, you're fighting my friends again, aren't you?" He saw the three beings nod at the same time. "And I'm supposed to fail again, right? Be helpless to save anyone? Just give up?" The shadows nodded again.

Beast Boy stared into the shadows before straightening up. He let go of his arm and curled his hands into fists. "Well…someone once told me not to give up. And she's a million times tougher than any of you. So…I'm not going to fail. …I'm going to kick your butts." Beast Boy said with determination and an unwavering voice. The shadows didn't react at first, but then wide white smiles spread across their mouths with a Joker-esque grin.

"Timid?" Beast Boy asked the emotion. "Is there anything you can do to help?" Timid responded. "I-I can heal you." Beast Boy let out a sigh. "All right. Let's do this." Beast Boy charged the shadows, letting lose the battle cry for recklessness. "LEEROOOOOOY JEEEEENKINS!"

* * *

><p>Outside of Beast Boy's mind the Beast had torn through the common room and the wall, swatting aside or breaking through any objects Raven threw at him. If she had time to focus, she could enter Beast Boy's mind, now strong enough to help him because of their bond. Alas, Her teammates were all fighting their own battles. On the other side of the room, Robin was fighting for his life against Ravager and Brother Blood. Blood had stabbed his shoulder with a serrated knife from one of his portals, and the situation looked bleak for him. Starfire and Cyborg were, no doubt, still fighting the other members of the Fearsome Five.<p>

Forced against a wall, Raven found herself running low on options. She erected the strongest barrier she could between herself and the Beast. The monster roared as it slammed against the black shield. His claws glanced off the shield with the sound of clashing swords in battle. Raven could feel the shield weakening. She had only one gambit left. Pushing the shield out from her, the Beast was pushed back two yards. Raven stood and stamped her foot down with her arms to her sides.

She had only ever seen Starfire do this to Silkie, and once to Beast Boy. Raven's voice cracked as she attempted to direct the Beast in a voice mimicking Starfire's. "Stop ri-ght there! I am very disappointed in you! You start behaving right now!" The Beast did not pause as he leapt in front of Raven and raised his claw to cut her down.

* * *

><p>Inside Beast Boy's mind The Beast shadow was lunging at Timid. He leaned back as Beast Boy grabbed him in a headlock. "You don't mess with the White Mage!" Beast Boy yelled as he held on for dear life to the Beast. "I'm not white! I'm grey!" Timid cried out while healing BB from scorch marks on his back.<p>

* * *

><p>Raven was stuck in place, shaking. The claws that would've ended her stuck in the wall above her. She winced as the Beast roared in her face before leaping onto the wall and pushing off to sail across the room, calling like the hound of the Baskervilles. The Beast slammed into the Ravager and took him through the wall, leaving an injured Robin, fighting Brother Blood, alone.<p>

The Ravager turned to face the green monster. "I always knew that serum could backfire. But it's almost worth it to see you cut loose." Brandishing his sword, Ravager paced around the room. "It reminds me of myself. But now-". He pointed the sword at the Beast's throat and grinned widely. "-I must, cut, wild."

The Beast swiped at the cobalt coweled man. Ravager ducked the claw and slid under the Beast, slicing its' leg. Turning the Beast slammed his fist where Ravager was but had quickly moved from. Now standing, Ravager slashed across the Beast's chest, flinging scarlet blood against the wall.

The Beast howled in pain and grew disoriented when Ravager hit him with a flash pellet. Appearing behind the Beast, The Ravager slashed him across his back and tripped him into the water heater. Steam rose in the room and red lights began flashing. The injured Beast rose to face the Ravager with fur matted with blood. They faced each other for the final blow. Sword against claws.

They charged each other. The Ravager thrusted his sword forward, cutting through the Beast's Trapezius muscle, barely missing his head as the Beast ducked and plunged his right hands' claws into Ravagers chest. The sword fell from his hand as a look of horror covered his face. The Beast tore away flesh and bone from the Ravager's body as he bit down on his adversary's side. He flung the dead mercenary across the room.

Gasps from the common room made the Beast turn to see Raven and Robin looking into the hole in the wall at the bloody scene before them. Cyborg and Starfire ran into the common room, exhausted from their own fights. The beast dropped to his knees and transformed back into the smaller Beast Boy.

Beast Boys' eyes opened. His head throbbing. Looking down, his hands felt sticky. They were covered in red. _Blood. Whose blood is…_ "What have I done?"

Footsteps approached the team from the shadows. A deep menacing voice that was all too familiar to the team spoke. "You've killed my son." Slade had arrived.

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><p><strong>That's right. I just took you on the longest possible journey to reach Issue #2 of New Teen Titans. You're welcome.<strong>


	14. All born in the US are citizens

"Slade!" Robin yelled as he charged the intruder with his staff raised. Slade sidestepped his staff and grabbed Robin by the knife wound on his shoulder, making him fall in pain. Slade kicked him across the room to the rest of the Titans.

"He wasn't supposed to leave Asia." The cycloptic villain contemplated, turning and looking down on his son's corpse. "And to be killed by Beast Boy… Why am I constantly underestimating you children? …Well, no more. I've been fighting with kid gloves on and all I've accomplished is allowing you to flourish."

Slade turned and stared deeply and menacingly at the Teen Titans while folding his hands behind his back. "From now on, Slade is no longer needed. I'm Deathstroke again. Titans have been rising, but no more. Beginning now…**Titans Fall**." When Deathstroke said this, every electronic in the tower shut down, leaving everything in complete darkness.

The Titans were stuck in a moment of shock before Robin responded. "Titans! We need light!" Robin pulled a flashlight from his belt. A light popped up from Cyborg's shoulder and Starfire's hands glowed green and bright to illuminate the room. Raven was still sitting next to the despondent Beast Boy. Beast Boy couldn't look away from his blood soaked hands.

"He took the body!" Robin yelled. He turned to Cyborg. "We need to get back online. Figure out what went wrong and fix it." Cyborg began to protest. "But what about Bea-" "Beast Boy will be fine, Raven will look after him. We need the tower operational to protect the city. That's your priority, so do it." Robin cut Cyborg off. Cyborg stormed to the computer panel and began tearing through wires.

"Raven, take Beast Boy to the bathroom and get him cleaned up." Robin ordered. Raven looked at Robin's arm, worried. "I'll be fine. I'll walk Starfire through bandaging it." Robin explained. "Is Beast Boy going back to jail?" Raven asked, pulling Beast Boy onto his feet. Robin paused before answering. "Ravager died by his own hands. Now clean him up." Beast Boy stumbled along behind Raven, as she pulled him.

Raven dropped him in the shower and lit one of her candles. She then turned the water on. As the water hit Beast Boy, he ran his blood soaked hands absentmindedly through his hair. Blood mixed with water washed down his face. While waiting, Raven realized she made a mistake.

_My emotions. I let them go when I saw the blood._ She thought. She then looked at Beast Boy. _He's been feeling it all. The fear, the anger._ She tried to regain control. To lessen his pain. She felt a tremendous amount of blowback. It was as if she was trying to wrestle a bull to the ground. She had to give up.

When all the blood was gone, Raven turned off the shower. When the water stopped she heard Beast Boy mumble something. "What was that?" Raven asked. "He was right." Beast Boy said, louder now. "Who?" "Ravager. He said I was a murderer. Now I am. …I'm a monster." Raven's mind flashed back to images of the villagers in Beast Boy's nightmare calling him a monster as they killed him. She kneeled next to the green teen and moved his face to look him in the eyes.

"You are not a monster." Raven told him. Beast Boy met her eyes, as if for the first time since their attempted conversation. His pupils tightened and Raven felt his fear rise. Beast Boy was remembering Raven's nightmare. Everyone refused to believe her when she said she was a monster, which made her unable to protect them from herself. Beast Boy pulled away from Raven. "No! No, I won't to hurt you!" He yelled as he ran from the Bathroom. He bounced off of the walls in the pitch black hallway. Raven stepped into the hallway and looked in the direction Beast Boy left in. It was then that she realized her second mistake. They didn't talk about their nightmares. They let them fester and, in the end, Beast Boy paid for it.

Raven focused on Beast Boy's emotions and began to chant her mantra. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos." Beast Boy appeared, summoned, in front of her. Seeing her, Beast Boy turned away, once more, and ran down the hallway frantically. He looked back to make sure Raven wasn't following him when he ran into Raven's arms as she summoned him again. _I can't run from her. She'll always be in danger._ Beast Boy grabbed her cloak and fell to his knees sobbing into it. Raven kneeled next to Beast Boy and held him until he fell asleep.

Beast Boy was lying against his bedroom wall by his door. He was taking deep breaths to remain as calm as possible to not bring Raven and her comfort. _I never thought Raven would have a problem with being too kind to me but I need to deal and I can't do that with her pity._ Beast Boy suddenly came to with a bag over his head and his hands zip-tied behind his back. The bag was pulled off and he saw that he was on the roof and that Robin was the one holding the bag.

"What the hell, man?!" Beast Boy yelled. "I needed to get you up here, and I figured the easiest way to do that while avoiding a long conversation was to kidnap you." Robin explained, matter-of-factly. "A world class ninja/mercenary pledges to kill me, and you immediately kidnap me and tie me up on the roof?!" Beast Boy exclaimed. "Well, when you put it like that, it sounds bad." Robin says, while cutting the zip ties on Beast Boy's wrists.

"The hell do you want from me anyways?!" Beast Boy snapped, still on edge. "I'm going to train you one-on-one for when Slade makes his move." Robin explained calmly. Beast Boy was sitting on the ground rubbing his wrists. "Let him come. He has a right to want me dead. …I killed his son." "And if he goes after Raven?" Robin asked.

Beast Boy looked up with a panic stricken face. "W-why would he do that?" Beast Boy asked. "She's your friend, but now she also has this bond with you. Not to mention, it would be a way for him to get back at Trigon. If his goal was to hurt you the way you hurt him, Raven would be the clear choice. Our advantage is that she can summon you to help her if she's attacked. I want to train you so that if or when she does, you'll be able to help her."

Beast Boy paused and thought about Robin's logic. "Why am I being taught by the guy that gets beaten by Slade the most?" At this, Robin's frown deepened. "Look, do you want my help or don't you?" "Why martial arts? What about my animal forms? Since we last faced Slade, I learned how to become a dragon and a demon." "Slade has killed demons before and he seems the type that could slay a dragon." Robin reasoned.

Beast Boy sighed and stood up. "All right. So, what are we doing?" Robin threw a double bulbed gourd, with a cork on one end, the size of a cat at BB who caught it. "What is this?" Beast Boy asked. "It's alcohol. Drink it. Slade is a master tactician. If you're going to fight him, you need techniques that can't be predicted. I'm going to teach you Zui Quan, or Drunken Kung-fu."

"Are you telling me…there's a fighting style that involves alcohol…and you waited until now to tell us?!" Beast Boy exclaimed. "…Yeah." Robin replied.

"Dick!" "What?! Ho- oh… um, yes. Yes, I am" Robin covered. "Why are you always acting weird when I call you 'Dick'?" BB inquired. Robin sighed. "I may as well tell you. My first name, the first part of my real name, is a form of that word. My name is Ri-" "Penis?!" Beast Boy cut him off. "What?! No!" Robin shouted. "…Weiner?" "Stop guessing!" Robin yelled. "It's Richard." "Ooh, Richard. …I don't get it. You sure your name isn't Weiner?" Beast Boy asked.

Robin waved his arms frantically. "Yes! Now drink!" "If you think alcohol will make this any clearer, you've got another thing coming." Beast Boy quipped as he uncorked the bottle and took a swig of the drink. BB then tossed the bottle back to Robin. "If I'm drinking, you have too as well. I'm not getting drunk with you hovering over me like a buzzard." Robin began to protest but stopped himself. "All right, fair enough." Robin took a swig of the drink as well.

An hour later, Robin and Beast Boy were completely and utterly drunk. "Believe it r' not…*hic*…if a green monkey kid is b'ing used by crimnals. They gon make ya drink." Beast Boy rambled, sitting back to back with the equally drunk Robin. "So yr tellin me…yo already know…what it's like t' be dunk?" "Heh, heh, heh. Spose'n so." Beast Boy chuckled. "Dat was d whole point of dis!" A drunk Robin yelled.

At this, Beast Boy began laughing and didn't stop as Robin got up and BB fell on his back, rolling with laughter. "Hol up…dat bird wanna fight me." Robin said, pointing at, what was clearly, a vent. "Wha did ew say, bastard!" He yelled, charging the vent. In a room below them, Raven was meditating. "*Hic*" Raven's eyes popped open as she uncharacteristically hiccupped and scanned the room curiously.


	15. Chapter 15

Three figures stood near the Jump City train tracks. One floated in the air behind a purple man dressed as a homeless drifter. "So what? You plan to flee, now that your master is dead?" Blackfire taunted. "Look baby doll, the purple cat is out of the bag and I'm wanted on four counts of murder. I'm jumping out of Dodge or dodging out of Jump. Either way, I'm out of here." Zookeeper said. "And what am I supposed to do? Return to my home planet, from which I'm exiled?" Blackfire wondered, aloud.

"Frankly my dear I don't… an entire planet you say? Full of beauties like yourself?" Zookeeper inquired, now very interested. "Why yes." Blackfire replied with a gleam of mischief in her eyes, and a wide smile. "And I am the rightful ruler." Blackfire turned away playing innocent. "But to return, I'd need an army."

The Zookeeper paused for a moment. "I think I know where to find an army." He said, thinking of the city prison, full of supervillains ripe for the exploiting. "Great minds think alike." A heavy voice said. A humanoid figure dropped from the bridge above and landed by them. It was Slade. "Oh, shit!" Zookeeper exclaimed. "Who is this man?" Blackfire inquired. "Bad news, most likely resulting in death." Zookeeper exclaimed. "You served my son in his attempt against the Titans." Slade stated. "Ah, double shit! I swear we didn't know he was your son." Zookeeper exclaimed.

"You aren't the ones I blame for his death. You were only following his bad orders. However, you will aid me, and I will pay you." "What use is your earth currency to me?" Blackfire said, disdainfully. Zookeeper winced, prepared for an extreme response. "I have another way to pay you. And what about you?" Slade said, turning his head towards Brother Blood, who was sitting on top of a crate. "Whatever brings about the return and glory of Trigon." Slade reached for his sidearm. "Trigon, hmm?" As Slade turned back to shoot at Brother Blood he had disappeared into a portal. "Smart man." He remarked. "What is this way of paying me you spoke of?" Blackfire interrupted. Slade turned to the orange woman. "I have an army."

* * *

><p>Back at Titan's Tower, Cyborg had finally gotten Titan's Tower back online. "I found it." Robin stated to the room of Titans. "Deathstroke. He's a world famous mercenary and suspected in several dozen assassinations and government overthrowing's. He's been missing for the last few years. I think we all know where he went." "So…we're more screwed than usual?" Cyborg asked. "Can you believe the code to shut down the tower was 'Titans fall'? Can you imagine how close we came to saying that over the last year? …I'm not the funny one. Beast Boy, we need you back!"<p>

"No, thanks. I'm kind of busy right now." Beast Boy replied, with a serious look on his face. Robin continued. "There's really nothing here that we could use against him. No mention of his son either. He's had a few run-ins with Green Arrow. I'll try and establish contact with Titan's East to ask Speedy if he knows anything." Robin typed and then the only screen left un-cracked in their common room turned on. Only static appeared. "Dammit!" Robin yelled, slamming his fist onto the counter.

"I think their tower might have been effected too. I hate to do this but…Cyborg, you need to get there and fix their tower." "Ah, man!" Cyborg said in an exasperated voice. "Well, at least I already know how to fix it." "Good, head over there as soon as possible. Beast Boy, join me in the gym." Robin stated. As the two boys left, Raven watched them with a curious look on her face.

* * *

><p>Beast Boy was in the gym with Robin. Robin had set up paint cans of various sizes tied to ropes that attached to the ceiling. As the cans flew back and forth, Beast Boy did his best to not get hit by them. "Stop dodging the cans! You need to flow, like water." Sarcastically, Beast Boy shot back, "Sure thing, Sensei." "Don't call me that." Robin replied. "Sure thing, jerk." "Sensei is fine." Robin stated, giving up on the matter.<p>

At that moment Raven walked into the gym. "Beast Boy, we need to talk." She said, over the clanging of paint cans. If they talked, it would be the first time since he broke down in the hallway. This realization stunned Beast Boy long enough for a big paint can to slam into his gut, making him fall over and getting blue paint all over his costume.

"Whoops." Robin stated. "I'll just give you guys some space." He said as he left the room. "_You suck!"_ Beast Boy squeaked out in a high pitched voice. Raven helped him sit up. "Ah, I think that crushed my ovaries." Beast Boy said. Raven stifled a smirk and corrected him. "You don't have ovaries." "Oh God! No ovaries! It's all over! I see a bright light! I see several…okay, that's the ceiling."

"Stop deflecting." Raven ordered. Beast Boy's face tensed and he looked down at his paint covered feet. "I'm sorry I attacked you. I couldn't…I mean I knew they had gone wild but I didn't…I wouldn't have done that." Raven placed a hand on his shoulder and Beast Boy's face rose to meet her eyes. "I know. It wasn't you in control…and it wasn't you that killed Ravager." Beast Boy's face twisted at this. Raven realized she said the wrong thing, although she didn't know how it should have been said. "You aren't a murderer!" Raven quickly shouted. "No, I wasn't! But I am now!" "You couldn't control yourself!" "And how many murderers use that as an excuse?!" Beast Boy shouted.

"Ask Robin, Arkham's full of them!" He continued. "It was self-defense, any police officer would've done the same." Raven rationalized. "I'm not some cop, I'm either a dumb teenager that can't control his powers or worse…a monster." As Beast Boy said this he stood, looking away from Raven as drips of paint fell onto the gym floor. Raven stood up. "We need to talk about our nightmares." "You really know how to brighten up a room, don't you, Raven?" Beast Boy joked. "Fine, what do you want to talk about? Aqualad?" Beast Boy bitterly joked. "Theresa?" Raven replied. "Touché."

"I'm surprised you know that word." Raven said. "If I'm reading, you need to stop being surprised by the results." Beast Boy sighed. "Those needles…" Raven began. "Were you ever experimented on?" Beast Boy nodded. "It wasn't a long part of my life, but it's a part that's hard to forget." "Are you okay?" Raven asked. Beast Boy perked up his ears and gave Raven a wide goofy smile and a thumb's up. "I'm great! I'm the Incredible Beast Boy!" "You need to stop that." Raven's words cut through Beast Boy's façade like a knife. His face dropped to a grimace. "St-stop what?"

"The mask." Raven said. "It's not you, and it's not honest." Beast Boy paused and then looked up at the lights on the ceiling. "I like the mask. It's been my friend when I had no one." "Why don't you allow yourself to be sad? It just builds until it explodes." Raven asked. Beast Boy chuckled. "Look at us all. We're a collection of sad stories. With the stuff you've been through, the hell kind of right do I have to be sad?" Raven's left hand touched his shoulder. "Everyone has a right to be sad, sometimes."

* * *

><p>Slade walked through a warehouse door with a purple man and orange woman in tow. "This, is my army." The army Slade was referring to was a sea of Sladebots, Mark I and II. Each appeared upgraded and still under enhancements. "Originally I was going to use them to conquer the west coast, but plans change. For years, I've had them commissioned under Dr. Chang but if they're to retake a planet of Tamaranians they'll need upgrades." At this point an old Chinese man in a white hazmat suit ran up to Slade. "Sir, there must be some mistake. To send this pipsqueak to replace me-"<p>

Slade grabbed the man by his collar. "Not 'replace'. He's here to improve upon your work and show you how to not screw things up." Slade said in a menacing voice. Dr. Chang slunk away while bowing. "Ah, yes Mr. Slade. Certainly, sir. As you wish it." In the distance the trio could hear an odd rant that included the phrase, "Snot muncher".

"As I was saying, a few weeks in my employ and you get your army." Slade continued. Zookeeper smiled to himself. _This is better than my plan. No chance of any robots trying to overthrow me. I'll just sneak in as the General and then I'll be 2__nd__ in command of a planet. And who knows, if I play my cards right, I could rule the whole shebang. _"And what would be required of us?" Blackfire asked. "Some training…and then, some killing." Slade replied.

* * *

><p><strong>I reference The Simpsons, Gone With the Wind, and Titanfall. Found out my dog is dying so i'll either be posting more frequently to distract myself or less frequently out of grief. Heads up.<strong>


	16. Boom, Baby!

Beast Boy ran around the group on the beach with a sparkler between each knuckle. "Vegan hotdogs and fireworks! It feels good to be an American!" The green teen announced. "You're from Africa." Raven said, cutting through his jubilance. "I'm African-American!" Beast Boy declared. "No you're not!" Raven exclaimed, beginning to become annoyed.

"You don't know that. You've never seen me eat pork. –ow ow!" Beast Boy yelped as the sparklers burnt his hands. Raven smirked. "Serves you right. Now give me your hands so I can heal them." "Hmph, fine." Beast Boy gave in. The team was celebrating the Fourth of July in Jump City and were preparing for the fireworks show that would soon start.

Robin called the team together to view his communicator. He was receiving a call from Kid Flash's communicator. The familiar face of Jinx appeared on the screen. "What did you idiots do this time!?"

* * *

><p><strong>One Hour Earlier:<strong>

Kid Flash and Jinx were on the outskirts of Jump City. "Look, we'll drop in and see the fireworks in plenty of time. We just need to check out this warehouse first." Jinx crossed her arms and harrumphed in disappointment. "C'mon. It's what heroes do." Kid Flash pleaded. "Fine." Jinx gave in. "Great! I'll be back in a *zoom*" Kid Flash zipped away to the warehouse.

* * *

><p><strong>12 Minutes Earlier:<strong>

Slade stood in front of three massive screens. From left to right there was a woman with long black hair. In the middle was an older man with a Fu Manchu, and a goatee. His hair had a white streak on each side. On the third screen was a massive man with a luchadore mask. Slade addressed the three.

"On multiple occasions I have acquired favors from each of you. The elegant and deadly Lady Shiva, The Head of the League of Assassins The Immortal Ra's Al Ghul, and the powerful mercenary Bane. I am calling them all in."

Ra's Al Ghul was the first to answer. "For years you disappear only to reappear and ask for aid?"

"Not ask. Allow. You owe me, all of you owe me. After this, the books are clean and all debts repaid." Slade corrected.

"What are the targets?" Bane spoke up.

"I have sent you all lists. The targets are members of the Teen titans. This group has cost me something dear and I will see them pay for it." Slade said.

"Children?!" Bane said indignantly. "I am a man who pays his debts but there is no honor in fighting children! When you have a worthy opponent for me, you may contact me again!" The feed to Bane's screen cut off.

Ra's Al Ghul spoke. "The boy that leads this team is connected to the Bat, and I do not wish to gain his attention at this time. I have plans in motion that he cannot interfere with."

Lady Shiva interjected, "I have no fear of the Bat and find it a constant point of shame to owe a mercenary such as yourself anything. If you wish it, I will end the boy's life."

"I have another target in mind for you, Shiva." Slade said. At that moment, a yellow and red blur flew and stopped a few yards behind Slade. Kid Flash found himself stuck in place, unable to move.

"As for what is to be done to these targets," Slade approached the teen and took out a handgun from his side. "I decided to show you." Slade pointed the handgun to Kid Flash's left knee. The flash of the handgun firing illuminated Slade's mask.

* * *

><p><strong>Present: <strong>

"I don't know what the hell you guys did to piss Slade off this time but Kid Flash is in the hospital getting surgery on his knee mumbling some junk about it being open season on the Titans!" Jinx screamed through the communicator Robin was holding.

"I'm sorry Jinx. We'll look into this and see if we can stop Slade before he goes any further." Robin said.

"You'd better! If you don't, I'm coming down there and kicking all of your-*click*" Robin turned off Jinx's message.

"Dammit." Beast Boy said, staring angrily at the ground. "This is my fault."

Robin put a hand on his shoulder. "That is not a productive way to think. We need to find Slade or Deathstroke or whatever he calls himself and bring him to justice. It's just more important now than ever."

"I understand." Beast Boy responded.

"It looks like Slade is going after all Titans now. Until we know what his resources are, we should alert the other members." Cyborg observed.

"More than that," Robin corrected. "We need to get them to gather together in groups. We won't be divided like when the Brotherhood of Evil rounded us up. I will go create the teams and contact the members now."

Robin turned and went inside the tower. Starfire pouted over the loss of her boyfriend from the fireworks display. Beast Boy stopped his brooding when he saw Starfire's souring face.

"Hey, Starfire! Check out this firework!" Beast Boy pulled from behind his back a mini nuke shaped device covered in wires and blue circuit boards. Raven and Cyborg immediately backed away from the green teen. "Dude! Where the hell did you get that thing?!" Cyborg shouted.

"I made it myself!" Beast Boy proudly decreed. "I used some of your tech and read some of Raven's books about explosives."

Raven cut in, "I don't have any books about…oh no. You read about Runes?!"

"Runes, dynamite, same thing. Some writing on rocks and paper and I've got a mega super firework!" Beast Boy held the device above his head. "That is amazing friend Beast Boy!" Starfire praised with shining eyes. "May I be the one to light it?"

Beast Boy nodded and Starfire raised her glowing hand. "NO!" The two more serious members shouted. BB and Starfire turned to the two as the fuse lit. "Ruh roo." Beast Boy said. They dropped the device and ran to hide behind Raven's shield.

The firework launched from the ground into the sky. As the device activated, a blue orb erupted in the sky resembling a blue supergiant. It lasted for a solid minute before fading into a peculiar image.

Cyborg: It's a cat.

Starfire: It's a green cat!

Raven: It's a glowing green cat.

Beast Boy in cat form: Meow.

The group burst into laughter, momentarily forgetting their troubles, present, and future.

* * *

><p><strong>One more serious chapter and then some nice funny stuff.<strong>


	17. Jumping the Shark Merry Christmas

In a dark room an overworked and overweight Control Freak was bent over his workbench. "Ah, finally! Have completed my 'patent pending' Love Gun! Anyone I hit with this will fall in love with me! …Wait. Everyone I interact with is on the internet. This gun is useless!"

Control Freak tossed the gun onto a pile of garbage behind him and thought about his next invention. He did not notice the small black portal open and a gloved hand dart from it and grab the gun. Had Control Freak been listening, he would have heard a voice say, "Yoink!"

* * *

><p>It had been two weeks since Robin had formed the honorary Titans into groups, operating out of hidden bases like the one Beast Boy used before taking on the Brotherhood of Evil.<p>

So far, five separate teams had been attacked by members of the League of Assassins which confirmed Kid Flash's identification of the man in the middle being Ra's Al Ghul. He was still working on identifying the black haired woman.

Only one of the honorary Titans opted to stay with the Titans West. Jericho and Beast Boy shared a sense of comradery from charging into almost certain defeat together and got along well. Jericho communicated with the others by writing on a notebook.

The alarm blared in Titans Tower. Beast Boy, Jericho, Raven, Cyborg, and Starfire ran into the common room to find Robin. Robin turned off the alarm once everyone had arrived and turned to face them before speaking.

"…Bushido and Wildebeest were killed last night. Pantha is in critical condition."

Beast Boy felt his legs grow weak and he fell to his knees. He knew Pantha. They attacked the Brotherhood together. He fought Wildebeest once. He knew those two were good friends. And he had brought this on them.

Cyborg walked to the couch and sat down with a metal hand covering his face. He remembered meeting Pantha to give her a Titan Communicator. He held himself responsible for getting her involved with them.

Starfire flew into Robin's arms and wept into his shoulder for her lost friends. She promised herself that she would give them a warrior's ceremony when she had time.

Robin had fought side by side with Bushido. He gave Wildebeest his communicator. He had put them and Pantha in that group and assigned them their base. He had chosen where they would die. Something else bothered him as well. A nagging thought in the back of his mind.

Jericho clutched his notebook tight as a tear fell and stained the pages. He too felt guilty, but the others couldn't yet guess why.

Raven stumbled and fell to the floor. Beast Boy snapped out of his thoughts and ran to her and propped her up. "I-I'm sorry, Rae. I-". Beast Boy was going to say he was sorry for feeling so much. "I'm sorry for all of this. This is all because Slade wants my head for killing his son and he's right to."

"Now stop right there." Robin interrupted. "I wont let you justify any of what that man has done. He's a psychopath, plain and simple. If it wasn't this that pushed him too far it would have been something else. We all knew he was dangerous, but we couldn't let him get away with whatever he wanted just because of that. What matters now is catching whoever's responsible for this."

"You do not believe it to be Slade?" Starfire asked.

"Not with these three. You've all seen them in battle. They're some of the best fighters I know and wouldn't have fallen without taking Slade or some assassins with them." Robin answered.

The computer screen behind Robin flashed. He went over to it to pull up a recorded message from Kid Flash. "Hey, guys how's it going? My knee's healing up fine but Jinx keeps making me rest or she-" "Where did you go now?!" Jinx's voice cut through Kid Flash's. "Crap! I'll be quick. I recognized the woman in the databases. It's a good thing I can look fast." "Found you!" Jinx declared, grabbing Kid Flash by his collar. "Ah! It's Lady Shiva! The woman is Lady Shi-". The message cut off.

The titans looked at Robin to see a look of shock on his face. "Oh no. No! No! Dammit!" Robin yelled as he pounded the keyboard in front of him.

"Hey man, what is it?" Cyborg asked.

"That's who killed them, it has to be! Lady Shiva is a martial arts grandmaster." Robin answered.

"What does that mean?" Beast Boy asked, still propping up Raven.

"Yes Robin, you are scaring us." Starfire said.

"She's a scary person. She's arguably the best martial artist in the world." Robin said.

"And she's after us?" Beast Boy asked.

"Beast Boy…If you see her. Forget all I taught you. Just turn into the fastest thing you know and run." Robin said.

* * *

><p>Suddenly the Titan Tower's alarm activated. Robin ran to check the monitor.<p>

Robin: "It's Slade. He's not alone. I can't tell who it is from here but it might be Lady Shiva."

Beast Boy got up and walked to stand in front of his leader.

BB: "I know you think we can't handle this, but we're stronger than you think, and we'll beat the odds. We always do."

Robin placed his hand on Beast Boy's shoulder. "Thanks man. I guess I just forget that sometimes."

"It's cool Robin. Hey, what's up with my ne-" Beast Boy collapsed on the floor.

Cyborg: "Dude! Did you just Vulcan Nerve pinch him?!"

Robin: "Don't be ridiculous, Cyborg. Vulcans aren't real. Starfire, hide Beast Boy. The rest of you need to get to the safe room. I can hold Slade off, and Shiva respects me enough to let me say my peace. Maybe I could talk her out of this."

Jericho held up his notepad. It read, "_I will help you fight Slade."_

Robin looked from the pad to Jericho. "This is not your fight. You don't have to face this monster."

Jericho scribbled and held up his new message. "_I do have to. It's because… he's my father."_

Starfire: "Gasp!"

Cyborg: "No way!"

Robin: "That's insane!"

Raven: "Why did he write the ellipses?"

The rest of the Titans turned to look at Raven.

Raven: "I mean, 'Oh my. No way.'"

Starfire grabbed Beast Boy's unconscious body and flew down the hall yelling, "I shall hide him under your bed!"

Robin: "What?! Why my bed?"

Starfire was too far away to hear him. Robin turned to Jericho. "This may make it hard to trust you, but you have proven yourself to be one of us. I'd gladly welcome your help."

Jericho smiled and nodded. An explosion at the front of Titans Tower drew their attention away from the moment. Robin turned to Cyborg and Raven. "Go! Now!"

Raven and Cyborg ran/flew down the hallway towards the room until Cyborg took a hard right towards the garage. "Where are you going?" Raven asked.

Cyborg: "I need to grab something. I'll meet you there."

Raven continued to the safe room. She had not been back since Slade and her father's forces had come to take her. She felt a familiar feeling the feeling of being trapped. Of having to wait to meet your pursuer. It was at that moment she realized that the enemy had not come for Beast Boy. They had come for her.

* * *

><p><strong>I never liked Bushido. Killing off characters is a slippery slope so i'll try to avoid it when I can. Merry Christmas.<strong>


End file.
